Preview: Sri Lanka Look To Keep Semi-Finals Hope Alive With Win Over South Africa

Sri Lanka will look to draw inspiration from their win over England and try to keep their semi-final hopes alive with a win over South Africa in their World Cup 2019 clash at the Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street on Friday. By contrast South Africa, who have already been knocked out of World Cup 2019, will only have pride to play for. With two wins, Sri Lanka are currently at the seventh spot with six points and need to win all of their remaining three matches to harbour hopes of a semi-final berth. Last edition's semi-finalists, South Africa were knocked out of the World Cup 2019 following a 49-run loss to Pakistan.

South Africa have failed to learn from their mistakes and will hope for a consolation win.

"The way we played today is borderline embarrassing. We are a mediocre team at the moment because we are making the same mistakes. One step forward and two steps back is not a good team," Faf du Plessis said after the defeat to Pakistan.

"The guys are playing with low confidence and making the same mistakes. It just rolls on, it's such a snowball effect," he added.

Both teams have struggled with the bat but Sri Lanka have an experienced bowling attack led by veteran Lasith Malinga.

Along with Dhananjaya de Silva, Malinga defended a relatively modest target of 233 against England, bowling out the hosts for 212. To ensure another win, the Sri Lankan batsman will need to step up and complement their bowling.

Squads:

South Africa: Faf du Plessis (capt), Quinton de Kock (wk), Aiden Markram, Hashim Amla, JP Duminy, David Miller, Kagiso Rabada, Dwaine Pertorius, Andile Phehlukwayo, Tabraiz Shamshi, Imran Tahir, Lungi Ngidi, Chris Morris, Rassie van der Dussen, Beuran Hendricks.

Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne (capt), Dhananjaya de Silva, Nuwan Pradeep, Avishka Fernando, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Kusal Mendis, Jeevan Mendis, Kusal Perera (wk), Thisara Perera, Milinda Siriwardana, Lahiru Thirimanne, Isuru Udana, Jeffrey Vandersay.

Match starts at 3 pm IST

(With PTI inputs)

Topics mentioned in this article

Sri Lanka vs South Africa, Match 35 Sri Lanka Cricket Team South Africa Cricket Team Lasith Malinga Faf du Plessis Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street World Cup 2019 Cricket