Sri Lanka opened its World Cup campaign in total disaster as South Africa broke all records while smashing a mammoth total of 428 for 5 in 50 overs in Delhi, India yesterday to win by a whopping 102 runs.
Conceding 428 the Sri Lankans were never in the hunt for victory although Kusal Mendis did some desperate hitting that brought him eight sixes and four fours for a score of 76 in 42 balls before he edged a ball from paceman Kagiso Rabada to be caught behind and with his dismissal with the total at 109 the result was a foregone conclusion.
South Africa’s total of 428 was the highest ever made in a World Cup match while it also marked the first time that three batters hammered hundreds in the same innings of the tournament to date while Sri Lanka conceded the highest total made against them that surpassed a total of 376 for 9 made by Australia in the 2015 World Cup.
Winning the toss and deciding to bowl first with the hope that chasing a target would be the best option, Sri Lanka had just one moment of celebration in the second over when Dilshan Madushanka trapped South African opener Temba Bavuma leg-before for 8 with the total at 10.
But the walls came crashing down on Sri Lanka when Rassie van der Dussen joined the seasoned opener Quinton de Kock to clobber hundreds in a second wicket stand of 204 runs in just 28.2 overs.
The hammering seemed unbearable for the Sri Lankan bowlers with paceman Matheesha Pathirana conceding 95 runs from his 10 overs while also bowling five Wides.
Kasun Rajitha also had a nightmare at Delhi by conceding 90 runs in his 10 overs as Aiden Markram became the third century-maker in the South African innings to set another record as the batter to make the fastest hundred in World Cup tournaments that came in just 49 balls.
Markram was in the pavilion when he saw De Kock made the first of the three hundreds batting with Van der Dusssen.
The 428 total also marked South Africa’s highest in a World Cup match. In all the South Africans hammered 14 sixes and 45 fours in compiling the runs while the debut-making spin bowler Dunith Wellalage was hit for three sixes conceding 81 runs in his 10 overs.
