Match report: South Africa wins Seven7 match

Source: cricinfo.com

• South Africa 78/4 (de Villiers 30, Amla 16) defeated Sri Lanka 46/5 (Sangakkara 13, Steyn 2/10)

Summary:

A large crowd were forced to endure a nearly three hour rain delay before watching the hosts convincingly beaten by the top-ranked South Africans. With the match reduced to just seven overs per side, batsmen were given license to hit out or get out. Unfortunately for partisan crowd, Sri Lanka took the latter while South Africa the former. Captain A.B de Villiers crunched 30 off just 13 balls as South Africa scored at an impressive 11 runs per over. The Sri Lankan chase was over before it began, losing two wickets in the first two overs. 

The farce:

This game was already meaningless as both teams had already progressed to the Super Eight stage after wins against Zimbabwe, but to make it a 14-over game bordered on ridiculous.  Condensing what is already a condensed version of the game. This match was definitely not one for the cricketing purists.

Who's hot:

It's impossible to gauge who was running hot in this match due to its abbreviated nature. De Villiers top-scored with 30 although as he was doing what every other batsman was doing, coming to the crease and swinging with gay abandon, you could argue he was as lucky as he was in form. Who should come under heat are the World Cup and Sri Lankan officials who would not or could not reschedule the game or provide a refund for the 35,000 strong crowd.

What it means:

South Africa: Zilch

Sri Lanka: Nada

The Votes:

MVP: 3- A.B de Villiers (top scored), 2- D Steyn (menacing even in 6 ball bursts), 1-K Sangakkara (top scored for the Lankans and made a nice stumping)

Tucker Trophy: 1- M Jayawardene (made 4 with the bat and ran out opening partner Dilshan), 2- ICC referees and umpires (for not cancelling the game), 3- The weather (the root cause of the problem!)