South Africa complete 5-0 sweep after DLS win
A floodlight failure with the home team 135 for 2 brought an early end to the game after Sri Lanka had been bowled out for 225
A floodlight failure with the home team 135 for 2 brought an early end to the game after Sri Lanka had been bowled out for 225
Scorer: @Thilak_Rama | Commentator: Liam Brickhill (gomorezvidinha)
9.13pm Game over, South Africa win by 41 runs (DLS). No further play has been possible at Newlands, and the match has been called off due to a floodlight failure. It's a disappointing way to end, especially as this was JP Duminy and Imran Tahir's last home ODI, but the result means South Africa complete a 5-0 sweep.
Aiden Markram is the Man of the Match and Quinton de Kock Man of the Series.
"We tried hard in the last five matches, but we didn't get enough runs on the board," says Lasith Malinga. "Isuru and Kusal Mendis played really well. The positive thing is all the boys are fighting hard. We have a local tournament in Sri Lanka before the World Cup selection, and we're looking forward to that. We stuck to our plans. If we had got another couple of wickets, you never know what could happen. But still, bowlers have to improve, analyse situations and use variations. But still, I feel all the boys are fighting hard. We have good senior players, Angelo (Mathews) and Chandi (Chandimal) are there. We have a local tournament in Sri Lanka before selection to the World Cup squad. We are now looking forward to doing our best in the T20Is."
"It's a good feeling," says Aiden Markram. "Thinking back on the day, the bowlers set it up really well for us. They delivered, and then it was nice to push through the initial tough phase against the new ball and end not out. The ebbs and flow of form as a cricketer is something that's interesting to experience, and sometimes quite hard in international cricket. But you learn a lot of lessons. I'm not sure, I'll just take it day by day. It's a matter of doing the right thing for good periods of time, and hopefully that can get you somewhere."
"I've been able to contribute to the team," says Quinton de Kock in understated fashion. "Whether it's for the Proteas or in the Mzansi Super League, it's nice to contribute for your team. I'm feeling good at the moment about my game. I've felt in better form, but I'd take a season like this any day. Hopefully I can keep my form at the World Cup. I'm sure I'll be okay (being the only keeper in the World Cup squad). It's only 50 overs, so it shouldn't be too tough on the body and fingers."
"We'd have preferred playing a full game and using the time in the middle, but proud of the way the guys have played," says Faf du Plessis. "Good signs for us. Through the series, our bowling has been excellent, and the x factor that we have is the ability to get wickets. I think the squad is settled, 99.9% sure where everyone is fitting in. That will be confirmed to 100% over the next month. But as a group, I'm really satisfied."
And that's all from your commentary team tonight. If you missed any of today's action, do check out Andrew Fidel Fernando's report, which will land any moment now.To all those who stuck around and kept things buzzing during the extended interruption, thank you. And please do join us again on Tuesday 19 March for the T20I at the same venue. Hopefully the lights will be fixed before then. Until then, goodbye!
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Achal: "Speaking of common names again, Dewsburry young stars cricket team in England once fielded all 11 Patels! "
AM Ghouri: "there is one bowler of SA who took 26 wickets in 14 matches of WC with 19 average. No one mentioned his name. He is M Morkel ! "
Kanishka Sanjee: "Without Klusener, there cannot be an all-time world cup squad for SA"
Zacki Jabbar: "The forthcoming Provincial One Day Cricket tournament, will determine Sri Lanka's final squad for the world cup . Let's hope we find a Specialist wicket keeper regardless of his batting abilities and a Captain who can unite the team. A missed catch or stumping could be the difference between winning and losing. Makeshift wicket keepers are okay for T20s."
Jacques: "@Sanjee. Gibbs instead of Kirsten?"
Dave : "Allan Donald has got to be in an all time SA team. What, he even had his 1st ball in WCup cricket in history caught behind only to be robbed by the umpire "
Herrie: "I would replace Lance Klusener with vinnige Fanie de Villiers and bump up Pollock." -- No Klusener? Shocker!
Bas: "Liam, I did this one a couple weeks back: Gibbs, de Villiers, Boucher, Pollock, Klusener, Wessels (c), Steyn, Tahir, Donald, Kallis, du Plessis, and Kirsten as my twelfth man."
Danish: "Kitten, Gibbs, amla, Abd, Hansie Cronje, Boucher, klusner, steyn., Shaun Pollock, Donald, Ntini." -- Miaow?
8.45pm The latest from Newlands is that the umpires will make a call on the resumption at 9.10pm. The match has been delayed for 90 minutes so far by a floodlight failure. According to our calculations, the par score now is 94, so South Africa are way ahead.
Kanishka Sanjee: "My All TIme South Africa XI; Graeme Smith, Garry Kirsten, Jacques Kallis, De Villiers, Du Plessis, Johnty Rodes, Lance Klusener, Shaun Pollock, Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada, Imran Tahir" -- Excellent team, but I'm not sure Rabada qualifies (yet)
8.36pm With all this talk of XIs, how about an all-time South African World Cup XI? Who would be in your all-time team?
Bas: "Alexi, that's my squad! Winners, all of them!"
Pc: "Rifdhy - we need you for the selection committee "
Azweer: "My SA WC XI will be : Markram, Q De Kock, Faf du Plessis, Amla, Duminy, Miller, Phehlukwayo, Steyn, Rabada, Ngidi, Tahir."
Alexi: "My South African World Cup XI: De Kock, Markram, Du Plessis, Van der Dussen, Miller, Duminy, Phehlukwayo, Steyn, Rabada, Ngidi, Tahir. That's an unstoppable squad!"
Rifdhy: "My World Cup XI with not a single player from this Srilankan team, Dimuth, Danushka, Kusal Perera, Chandimal, Mathews, Asela Gunaratne, Seekuge Prasanna, Chameera, Lahiru Kumara, Sachithra Senanayake, Nuwan Pradeep "
Nadeesh Fernand: "My XI for the WC - Oshada , Gunathilaka , Chandi , Kusal Mendis , Dhananjaya, KJP , Mathews , Isuru , Malinga , Lakmal , Ambuldeniya # mathews gunathilaka dhana should cover 10 overs."
YashSL: "My WC 11 *Sadeera *D.Gunathilaka *K Perera *K Mendis *D de Silva * A.Mathews *Dasun Shanaka * T.Perera * I.Udana *V.Fernando *L.Malinga *M.Pushpakumara."
karthi: "should sri lanka find a new wicketkeeper batsman instead out of form dickwella"
Kanishka Sanjee: "My WC squad for Sri Lanka; Kusal Janith, Upul Tharanga, Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Thisara Perera, Lasith Malinga,Isuru Udana, Suranga Lakmal, Akila Dananjaya, Danushka Gunathilaka, Asela Gunarathne, Dushmantha Chameera, Lahiru Kumara, Lakshan Sandakan"
Sathyajith: "Sachitra Senanayake is in good form. SL should consider him for the WC. "
8.05pm The official word from Cricket South Africa is that technicians are working on getting the lights back up and running. No overs have been lost yet. According to our calculations, the par score now is 94, so South Africa are way ahead.
Aks: "Considering the format it's going to be played in, I see Eng, India, Australia and one of NZ or Pakistan as potential semi finalists. Don't see SA getting in..may be at the expense of NZ or Pak. Others will have good days but WC format seeks consistency & SL, WI, Afghanistan, Bangladesh are anything but consistent..but they surely would be party poopers for the potential semi finalists. At best I see them winning 2-3 games each, nowhere close to 5-6 that may be needed to get to semis"
Kesh: "@Sithira Amarada: I'd like to go with Dimuth, Upul, KJP, Kusal Mendis(WK), Mattews, D De Silva, Thisara, Udana, Akila, Lasith, Lakmal, Vishwa, Oshada, Kamindu, Kasun Rajitha. "
Sorubamoorthy : "Tharanga, Dikwella K Mendis, K Perera A Perera, O Fernando De Silva, T Perera Malinga, Akila and Udana"
Amit Godara: "I'd shave half my head for the remainder of the year if sl makes it to semis. Afghanistan would fare better than them. " -- Be sure to share pics with us if/when this occurs
7.55pm I'm hearing that apparently a circuit broke to cause the current outage, and it doesn't have anything to do with load-shedding.
Mohamed Jafran: "No one knows what will happen in WC. Before champions trophy pakistan was the last team to qualify and finally they lifted the trophy. Im sure Srilanka will come strong with their senior players in WC. My XI, Dimuth, Avishka, oshada, k.mendis, k.perera, mathews, Angelo perera, sachithra senanayaka, isuru udana. Lakmal, malinga. Good luck SL. "
7.50pm The crowd's getting fidgety at Newlands:
Sithira Amarada: "Good Evening Folks! What would be the Sri Lankan Squad for World Cup 2019?"
OB Jato: "Random joke to pass time from my mobile's notepad: Why did the cricket captain place a second jacket on the top of his autobiography? Because even there, he wanted to place an extra cover."
Santhosh: "What's the DLS par score?" -- As soon as we hear any information from the ground, we'll update you
Nimesha : "I agree. Sri Lanka have a good chance with some experience coming in as well. India have peaked too early for sure. England has a tendency to crumble under pressure, especially in home territory. But if butler turns into xbox 360,might as well get out of the way and enjoy some tea and cake. "
Mustafa Moudi: "When it comes to Similar Surnames then No one can Beat Khan with at least 8 International Teams having A Khan in their in their International Side - Zaheer Khan (IND), Junaid Khan (PAk), Morshed Ali Khan (Bdesh), Khurram Khan(UAE), Kamran Khan (Qatar), Khalid Khan (HKG), Ibrahim Khan (Saudi), Bilal Khan (Oman). "
Anon06: "Have they tried knocking it a few times, blowing off the dust and flicking the on/off switch? That usually works." -- Usually works for me
Cheema: "@Santhosh I think Mohammad name has played for most countries.. Mohammad Yousuf (Pakistan), Mohammad shami (India), Mohammad Ashraful (Bangladesh), Dave Mohammad (west indies), Mohammad Naveed (UAE), Mohammad Shehzad (Afghanistan) and maybe more"
Nick: "Liam, best comment ever on the same name in opposing teams was probably when English captain FG Mann was bowled by SA's Tufty Mann in 1948 - John Arlott quipped "Mann's inhumanity to Mann". -- That's a good one
7.18pm There's going to be a delay at Newlands as there is a bank of floodlights that still hasn't lit up. The players leave the field, and they're going to have to turn everything off and back on again to sort the problem, apparently.
Ramis: "Did someone say load shedding? Thought we only had that in Pakistan! Mind you, we get around 8-12 hours of it a day here!" -- Oh no, it's totally a thing here in South Africa as well
Jacques Prince: ""Stranger things have happened". Oh, you've seen SA play in world cups before I see!"
Abhijato: "@Abhishek Narang - let's not forget Afghanistan. On English pitches which will assist spinners, they might be strong contenders to make the semis at the very least..."
Ajay: "Abhishek don't forget England. The way they are playing they are lock for at least semi final if not winning the whole thing. The rest of the spots are wide open. I don't see any other teams that are lock for Semi final. They all have good chance. "
James Iyer: "Turning off and back on again is how you solve anything in life Liam...!" -- Ain't that the truth!
Sven with the bold opinions: "Lets be honest with ourselves here, Afghanistan have zero batting. Zero. They can bowl though. So with the help of a few Choking episodes, maybe they could.. just maybe."
Abhishek Narang: "Hi Liam, Sorry for changing the similar names topic but am I the only 1 who thinks that Sri Lanka would be able to reach atleast Semi Finals of the upcoming Cricket World Cup. India peaked too early, Australia & Pakistan are yet to play each other in UAE. I feel it would be New Zealand, South Africa reaching last 4 along with Sri Lanka & 1 more team. Sri Lanka may be the only team to peak in the World Cup after horrible 2019 till date. What's your thought about this ?" -- Stranger things have happened. I do believe it's wide open
A floodlight failure with the home team 135 for 2 brought an early end to the game after Sri Lanka had been bowled out for 225
Sri Lanka stand at serious risk of going into the World Cup without having won a single match this year