CRICKET: Hosts South Africa were eliminated from the World Cup when their final Group B match against Sri Lanka ended in a tie after rain stopped play with five overs remaining at Kingsmead last night.
It was an uncanny repeat of the 1999 tournament when South Africa's semi-final against Australia in Birmingham ended in a tie and Australia went through because they had been higher on the Super Six log table.
This time, though, South Africa's downfall came in the first round. It was a major humiliation for the host nation, who started the tournament as second favourites behind defending champions Australia.
South Africa, needing to win to reach the Super Six, were 229 for six after 45 overs in reply to Sri Lanka's 268 for nine when rain, which had been falling for more than 10 minutes, drove the players off the field.
According to the Duckworth-Lewis method, the "par" score was 229, which meant the honours and the points were shared.
Amazingly, South Africa's Mark Boucher was wrongly told that 229 runs would be enough to win, it was revealed after the dramatic tie. South Africa captain Shaun Pollock said a message had been sent out to the wicketkeeper at the crease as the falling rain threatened to wash out the game.
Asked if his players were aware of what South Africa would need to win the game after the victory target was revised because of the rain, Pollock said: "Boucher was given the message of 229. So he was pretty happy when he got that. You can look at all the ifs and buts but in the end it doesn't help much."
As the rain began to pour down, Boucher hit a six off Muttiah Muralitharan's next delivery, flat-batting the ball over mid-wicket to take the score to 229 for six. Boucher blocked the next ball - a single would have been enough for victory - before the players were ordered off.
Pollock, who was in the 1999 side which lost to the Australians at Edgbaston, added: "It's got to rank up there as possibly the most disappointing thing. Two ties in the last two World Cups and out of both of them. The guys are gutted. I felt we deserved better on the day."
Sri Lanka went to the top of Group B with 18 points, two ahead of Kenya, who play the West Indies in their last match at Kimberley today, and New Zealand. South Africa finished with 14 points.
Kenya will finish top if they beat the West Indies and second if they lose because New Zealand forfeited their scheduled match against them.
Earlier, Sri Lankan opening batsman Marvan Atapattu hit a flawless century as he and veteran Aravinda de Silva caned the South African bowling attack. Atapattu (124) and De Silva (73) shared a 152-run fourth wicket stand.
Sri Lanka
M Atapattu c sub b Hall 124
S Jayasuriya run out 16
H Tillakaratne c Boucher b Kallis 14
M Jayawardene c Boucher b Hall 1
A de Silva c Smith b Ntini 73
R Arnold b Pollock 8
K Sangakkara c Pollock b Kallis 6
C Vaas run out 3
M Muralitharan b Kallis 4
D Fernando not out 1
Extras (lb-2, w-11, nb-2) 18
Total (for nine wickets, 50 overs) ... 268
Fall of wicket: 1-37 2-77 3-90 4-242 5-243 6-258 7-261 8-266 9-268.
Bowling: Pollock 10-1-48-1 (w-2, nb-1); Ntini 10-0-49-1 (w-3, nb-2); Zondeki 6-0-35-0 (w-3); Kallis 10-0-41-3 (w-1); Hall 10-0-62-2 (w-1, nb-2); Klusener 4-0-31-0-(w-1, nb-1).
SOUTH AFRICA
G Smith c Gunaratne b de Silva 35
H Gibbs b Muralitharan 73
G Kirsten b de Silva 8
J Kallis b Jayasuriya 16
B Dippenaar b Jayasuriya 8
M Boucher not out 45
S Pollock run out 25
L Klusener not out 1
Extras (lb-4, w-12, nb-2)18
Total (for six wickets, 45 overs) ... 229
Fall of wicket: 1-65 2-91 3-124 4-149 5-149 6-212.
Did not bat: A.Hall, M Ntini, M Zondeki.
Bowling: Vaas 7-1-33-0 (nb-1); Gunaratne 6-0-26-0; Fernando 1-0-14-0 (nb-1); de Silva 8-0-36-2 (w-1); Arnold 4-0-16-0 (w-1), Muralitharan 9-0-51-1 (w-1); Jayasuriya 10-0-49-2 (w-3).
Match tied under Duckworth/Lewis method.
