ICC World Cup 2019: Match 35, Sri Lanka vs South Africa – Faf’s record knock, Dimuth’s tough start and more stats

After being knocked out of semi-final contention, South Africa is making it tough for other teams who are in the race as they thumped Sri Lanka by nine wickets at Chester-le-Street. Lankans lost their skipper Dimuth Karunaratne on the first ball of the match. No player in their innings scored more than 30 as they were restricted to only 203. South Africa lost Quinton de Kock’s wicket early on but Faf du Plessis (96*) and Hashim Amla (80*) finished the chase with 76 balls to spare with an unbeaten 175-run stand.

All the statistical highlights from South Africa’s 9-wicket victory against Sri Lanka:

A hat-trick of wins for South Africa:

3 – This was South Africa’s 3rd straight win against Sri Lanka in the World Cup; all the three came while chasing. Last time Sri Lanka defeated the Proteas in a CWC game was back in 1992. South Africa won the 1999 edition game by 89 runs while the game in 2003 ended in a Tie. This was also South Africa’s 6th consecutive ODI win against Sri Lanka.

204 – The 204-run chase by South Africa in this game is their highest in the World Cup since chasing down 297 against India in 2011. South Africa lost each of their last six World Cup games while chasing excess of 150.

Faf sets South African records:

96* – Faf du Plessis’ unbeaten 96 is the 2nd highest individual score while chasing for South Africa in World Cup. AB de Villiers’ unbeaten 107 is the only score higher than that of Faf in a CWC chase for South Africa. Jacques Kallis also scored 96 against India in the 1999 edition.

96* – The 96-run knock by Du Plessis is the highest individual score in a World Cup chase for South Africa. He surpassed Graeme Smith’s 91 against Scotland that came in the 2007 edition.

A rare dismissal to start:

1 – Dimuth Karunaratne became the first captain to be dismissed on the first ball of a World Cup game. The Sri Lankan skipper is only the 3rd player to be dismissed on the first ball of a team inning in the World Cup. Graham Gooch in 1992 edition against Zimbabwe and William Porterfield against England in 2011 got out on the first ball of 2nd innings.

2 – Kagiso Rabada is the 2nd bowler to take a wicket on the first legitimate ball of an ODI for South Africa. Shaun Pollock has three such instances as he dismissed Paul Wallace in 1999 while Adam Gilchrist in 2002 MCG ODI and in 2006 Gabba ODI respectively.

A record stand:

175* – The unbeaten 175-run stand between Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis is the highest for South Africa while chasing in World Cup. AB de Villiers and Graeme added 160 for the opening stand against Australia in the 2007 edition.

Amla @ 1000:

1054 – Hashim Amla became the first South African to aggregate 1000 ODI runs in England. He scored 1054 runs from 24 innings in the ODIs he played in England at an average of 52.7 with two tons and six half-centuries. Jacques Kallis is 2nd on the list with 818 runs also scored across 24 innings.