DURHAM – Proteas seamer Dwaine Pretorius struck twice to slow Sri Lanka’s charge in their World Cup match at Chester-le-Street on Friday.
A win for Sri Lanka, who shocked England last week, would lift them level with the fourth-placed hosts on eight points, with the top four sides progressing to the semi-finals.
Faf du Plessis’ South Africa can no longer qualify from the 10-team group phase.
Sri Lanka, put into bat, had a disastrous start to their innings when captain Dimuth Karunaratne was caught at slip by Du Plessis off the first ball of the match, delivered by paceman Kagiso Rabada.
Kusal Perera and Avishka Fernando batted positively to take the score to 67/1 in the 10th over before Fernando (30) mistimed a shot, sending the ball steepling into the air before it was taken by Du Plessis.
Perera was next to go, chopping a Pretorius delivery on to his stumps as Sri Lanka slipped to 72/3 in the 12th over.
Kusal Mendis and Angelo Mathews had taken the score to 92/3 by the end of the 20th over as they looked to rebuild the innings.
South Africa made two changes, bringing in Pretorius and JP Duminy for Lungi Ngidi and David Miller.
Sri Lanka brought in seamer Suranga Lakmal for Nuwan Pradeep.
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— Zaahier Adams (@ZaahierAdams)