Their nine, ten and jack hauled the score to 199 and their bowling aces came out firing on all cylinders as they blew away Sri Lanka for 110. Wow.Whether it was from hubris or ennui, the Proteas found themselves in a hole from the very beginning. Kirsten, who is playing in a trance, has copyrighted the inner-edge-to-the-stumps mode of dismissal. He xeroxed it again off Vaas this time after spanking Wickremasinghe for three back-to-back boundaries. Gibbs reduced Umpire Bucknor to ashes after being given caught behind.

Boucher drove airily at Wickramasinghe, who was till then as accurate as a defective sprinkler, andlost his bails. Kallis was inveigled by Ranatunga's eagle-eyed captaincy that introduced a wide and short second slip as Wickremasinghe found the right line for his jumbo outswingers. But even at 54 for four in the 15th over, the Proteas were still smiling, reminding one of Mohammed Ali's rope-a-dope trick.

A propeller-driven plane appeared over the ground at this time dragging an admonishing banner saying `Killing Tamils is not Cricket.' As if in response, Ranatunga introduced Muralitharan into the attack, but it was Hansie Cronje who chose to commit harakiri trying to squeeze a tight second run and failing to beat Mahela Jayawardena's laser-straight throw.

Even at 69 for 5, there was a swagger among the South Africans, personified by a brazen reverse sweep essayed by Rhodes off Murali. The chutzpah had its comeuppance a short while later when he top-edged a sweep of Murali. Could the Proteas recover from 106 for six against the rampaging Lankans?

Hereabouts, dame luck frowned on South Africa. Pollockblasted a cover drive into Ranatunge's ankle at silly point and the ricochet was caught by the bowler, justifying the designation of that fielding position. Cullinan, who had batted serenely for 49 while his team played dominoes at the other end, found his lofted off drive caught on the line by Vaas, who, with admirable presence of mind threw it back as he lost control and stumbled over, to make it 122 for 8.

Ever since Azharuddin hit five consecutive fours of the unfortunate Lance Klusener in Calcutta two seasons ago, the beefy South African has decided to wreak vengeance on the rest of the world. Today he picked on Vaas, who had bowled quite splendidly till then. A dot ball was followed by 4,2.4,6 and 6 as Klusener clubbed 22 of the last over to give the Proteas something to bowl at.

Something? It turned out to be plenty. The Proteas came storming back, as if stung by the Lankans gall in having them against the ropes. Kallis atoned for his failure with the bat with a blistering opening spell that rippedout Kaluwitharana, Jayasuriya and Atapattu. when Aravinda D'Silva was `Dunne' in by the New Zealand umpire to reduce Sri Lanka to 14 for 4, the innings ebbed even as the first Mexican waves rolled around the pretty ground. Lanka will now have to win all its remaining three games to stay in the hunt.

On the basis of today's performance, there will be many who will be asking why the South Africans shouldn't be given the trophy straightaway, but that wouldn't be cricket, would it? They'll still have to earn it.

Group A: Sri Lanka vs South Africa

SOUTH AFRICA
Gary Kirsten b Vaas 14, Herschelle Gibbs c Kaluwitharana b Vaas 5, Mark Boucher b Wickremasinghe 1, Jacques Kallis c Mahanama b Wickremasinghe 12, Daryll Cullinan c Vaas b Muralitharan 49, Hansie Cronje run out 8, Jonty Rhodes c Jayasuriya b Muralitharan 17, Shaun Pollock c & b Muralitharan 2, Lance Klusener not out 42, Steve Elworthy c Kaluwitharana b Vaas 23, Allan Donald not out 3. Extras (b2l, w7, nb4) 13.

Total (for ninein 50 overs) 199.

Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-24, 3-24, 4-53, 5-69, 6-103, 7-115, 8-122, 9-166.

Bowling: Pramodya Wickremasinghe 10-1-45-2 (1nb, 4w), Chaminda Vaas 10-0-44-3 (3nb), Mahela Jayawardene 10-0-46-0 (1w), Muttiah Muralitharan 10-1-25-3 (1w), Upul Chandana 7-0-43-0 (1w), Sanath Jayasuriya 3-1-9-0.

Sri Lanka
S Jayasuriya b Kallis 5, R Kaluwitharana c Cullinan b Kallis 5, M Atapattu c Boucher b Kallis 1, A de Silva lbw Pollock 1, R Mahanama lbw Pollock 36, A Ranatunga c Boucher b Donald 7, M Jayawardena c Kallis b Elworthy 22, U Chandana c Cullinan b Klusener 9, C Vaas c Pollock b Klusener 1, P Wickremasinghe b Klusener 6, M Muralitharan not out 0. Extras: (lb5, w10, nb2): 17.

Total (all out in 35.2 overs) 110

Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-13, 3-14, 4-14, 5-31, 6-66, 7-86, 8-98, 9-110.

Bowling: Pollock 8-3-10-2, Kallis 8-0-26-3, Elworthy 8-1-23-1, Donald 6-1-25-1, Klusener 5.2-1-21-3.