Sri Lanka seizes last semifinals position
John Mehaffey, Reuters, Johannesburg, South Africa
Sri Lanka gratefully seized the last World Cup semifinals spot on Saturday and the daunting prospect of facing defending champion Australia in Port Elizabeth next Tuesday.
The 1996 champion defeated Zimbabwe comfortably by 74 runs in East London to edge past New Zealand in the Super Six standings on the final day of the second round.
Kenya, the only non-test nation ever to qualify for the second round, continued to surprise in its day-night match against Australia in Durban. The east Africans had already qualified for the second semifinals against India at the same venue on Thursday.
After posting a creditable 174 for eight, despite a Brett Lee hat-trick, the Kenyans took four Australian wickets for eight runs under the lights, before the world champion rallied to win by five wickets.
Kenya's improbable hero was 39-year-old left-arm spinner Aasif Karim, who has also represented the east Africans in the Davis Cup.
Karim, who retired after captaining Kenya at the 1999 tournament, won the man-of-the-match award ahead of Lee by taking three for seven from 8.2 overs.
Off the field, South Africa captain Shaun Pollock paid the price for his team's failure to advance past the first round when he was dismissed from his post. A new captain will be named on Sunday.
Zimbabwe fast bowler Henry Olonga announced he would join teammate Andy Flower in retiring from the international arena. Both players wore black arm bands earlier in the tournament in protest against President Robert Mugabe's government.
Sri Lanka was beaten by Kenya in the first round, the first sign of things to come from the enthusiastic Africans.
It lost heavily to India in the Super Sixes but grabbed the opportunity afforded it by New Zealand's failure to beat India on Friday.
Marvan Atapattu batted throughout the innings for 103 not out in a total of 256 for five, a challenging total on another slow, low pitch doing little for the cause of attractive cricket.
Flower, who retires with an average in test cricket exceeding 50, was clearly determined to make an impact in his final match.
He reached 38 with no obvious problems but his dismissal low from a ball that appeared to clip the bat first signaled the end for Zimbabwe.
Kenya confounded the skeptics who thought they would be blown away by the unbeaten Australia side.
Lee, whose extreme pace has been crucial to Australia's success, reduced Kenya to three for three to become only the third Australian to take a hat-trick in a one-day international.
Kenya owed its recovery to a polished 46 from opener Ravindu Shah, who has not looked out of his depth at any stage of the tournament, and 51 from captain Steve Tikolo.
Adam Gilchrist cracked 67 from 43 balls to set Australia up for what looked like an easy victory before Aasif dismissed captain Ricky Ponting (18), Darren Lehmann (2) and Brad Hogg for a duck.