Scorecard

South Africa kept their Champions Trophy hopes alive as they recovered to 219 for nine against Sri Lanka, after a top-order collapse, at the Sardar Patel stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad, on Tuesday.

Chaminda Vaas bowled a tight spell of two for 16 to reduce South Africa to 31 for three after captain Mahela Jayawardene had put the opposition in to bat. But an 80-run partnership between Jacques Kallis (43) and Abraham de Villiers (54) led the South African revival.

Even as the pair played out the crucial middle-overs, late hitting by Robin Peterson and Shaun Pollock helped the team to the competitive total.

South Africa innings:

It's not for nothing that Chaminda Vaas is regarded as one of the best ODI bowlers currently. The paceman bowled another mean spell, 10 overs on the trot, including three maidens, and grabbed two wickets for 16 runs to restrict the South African top order.

Wicketkeeper Kumara Sangakkara, standing up to Vaas in his fifth over itself, indicated that the playing strip was slow. But Vaas, who has done a lot of bowling on subcontinent tracks, bowled in the right areas to snap South Africa's patience.

He made the first cut with the wicket of Proteas captain Graeme Smith, who played after scoring 10 off 15 balls.

Vaas had Smith lean into a drive, but the ball came higher than expected and the batsmen ended up playing the ball into Sanath Jayasuriya's hands at short mid-wicket.

Herschelle Gibbs was timing the ball sweetly and had slammed three boundaries before edging it to Sangakkara off Lasitha Malinga. The batsman had survived three balls earlier, having nicked the ball but it fell just short of the wicketkeeper.

Vaas induced an edge off Boeta Dippenaar's (three off 19 balls) bat to reduce South Africa to 31 for 3.

But South Africa's crisis man Jacques Kallis again came to the rescue. He worked around the Sri Lankan attack, which lacked penetration at the other end, as Malinga and Dilhara Fernando were unable to maintain a consistent line.

Kallis shared a partnership of 80 runs with Abraham de Villiers to steady the ship. The pair stalled the fall of wickets but the scoring-rate was kept on the boil.

Most of the pitches in the Champions Trophy have been tricky for the batsmen, with the uneven bounce and lack of pace. Given the situation, the circumspect knocks by Kallis and de Villiers added meat to South Africa's total.

Though Muttiah Muralitharan was not at his best, Jayasuriya pulled the strings from the other end, bowling with great control.

Kallis hit only three boundaries -- two fours and a six off Fernando -- in his innings of 43 but was able to churn out 27 singles. He was out stumped to Jaysuriya, who sent down a teasing delivery;  Kallis failed to judge the flight and was dragged out before missing the ball.

De Viliers played a matured knock of 54 (88 balls, 3x4) but wasn't able to keep up the fight for long. In an effort to accelerate, he ended up giving a catch to Maharoof in the outfield off Muralitharan.

Mark Boucher played a handy knock of 29, but it was Robin Peterson and Shaun Pollock that saw the team past 200.

Peterson took 22 runs off Maharoof in the 49th over, hitting four fours and a six to give the total a much-needed boost. He started with a four past third-man, slogged a six over long-on, then hit a cover-drive for four and ended by running another one past third-man, this time just beating the fielder.

The crowd was all keyed up after the left-hander's antics, when Pollock followed it up with a six off Malinga in the last over, pulling the ball over the long-on fence. The bowler though struck back with wickets off successive balls, cleaning up Peterson and Andre Nel.

South Africa's innings ended on 219 for 9, much better than what looked likely after a poor start, with Pollock unbeaten on 21.