While Sri Lanka will be fancying their chances against a lowly South African side, the Proteas would be more than keen to make a statement against the 1996 winners.
Captain Eoin Morgan smashed his second half-century in two games and Adil Rashid took four wickets to help England crush Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the rain-marred third One-Day International on Wednesday.
Images from Friday's World Cup match between South Africa and Sri Lanka, at Chester-le-Street.
South Africa have slipped to number six in the world, behind fifth-placed Sri Lanka, and have a host of questions to answer, not least around a brittle top six and the balance of the side.
The BCCI, however, in a tersely worded reply to Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has made it clear that neither them, nor the broadcasters have any say in national team selection matters.
On a high after claiming his seventh five wicket haul, pace spearhead Ishant Sharma said that he enjoyed bowling on a green wicket with a red kookaburra ball.
The experienced Indian golfer, who began the week with a superb 67 and was inside the Top-10, slid down the ladder thereafter with rounds of 72-68-72 over the next three days for a total of 5-under 283.
Kusal Mendis led a strong Sri Lankan second innings effort but the West Indies still held the advantage at stumps on day four of the first Test at the Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad on Saturday. Set a daunting target of 453 when the hosts declared their second innings at 223 for seven just after lunch, the visitors reached 176 for three by the close with Mendis unbeaten on 94.
Sri Lanka have dropped Test spinners Rangana Herath and Tharindu Kaushal from their One-day squad for the five-match series against Pakistan starting on Saturday.
Marlon Samuels' unbeaten century proved in vain as Sri Lanka beat West Indies by 19 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method to complete a 3-0 one-day series whitewash on Saturday.
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews will appear before police on Tuesday to record a statement in connection with a match-fixing scandal that has led to the suspension of a fast bowling coach.
There was disaster for the visitors when captain Joe Root (1), who scored a superb 228 in the first innings, was run out by a direct his from wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella to leave England teetering at 14 for three.
Kusal Mendis excelled under pressure again, hitting a sparkling 86 and featuring in two important partnerships to help Sri Lanka overcome a shaky start and post 281 all out on the opening day of the second Test against Australia on Thursday.
Fast bowlers Kagiso Rabada and spinner Tabraiz Shamsi picked up four wickets each to set up South Africa's five-wicket victory against Sri Lanka in the first one-day international at Dambulla on Sunday.
Rajneesh Gupta presents all the numbers you need to know about Virat Kohli in Test cricket.
Bangladesh made a perfect start to their World Cup campaign, posting their highest one-day international score of 330-6 during the 21-run win over South Africa.
Opener Dean Elgar struck a magnificent century for South Africa but Sri Lanka came back strongly with four wickets in the final session to balance the scales on the opening day of the first Test on Wednesday.
Netherlands' Kingma gets four-match suspension for ball-tampering.
Chasing 215 to win, Bangladesh made a flying start before enduring a mid-innings slump when Mushfiqur took the onus on himself to help Bangladesh post their highest total in the 20-overs format and win by five wickets with two balls to spare.
Rohit Sharma blazed his way to the joint fastest century in T20 Internationals, reaching the three-figure mark off just 35 balls in the second T20 International against Sri Lanka in Indore on Friday.
A clinical India defeated Sri Lanka comprehensively by six wickets to continue their their winning run in the Nidahas Twenty20 Tri-Series, in Colombo, on Monday.
Kuldeep Yadav got a verbal lashing from MS Dhoni for not adhering to his instructions while bowling during an ODI against Sri Lanka in 2017. So scared was the UP spinner that he went upto Dhoni in the team bus to apologise and asked if he had ever lost his composure like this in the past.
Opener Shikhar Dhawan (94) and KL Rahul (73) restored India's dominance with fluent half-centuries as the hosts erased a 122-run lead to nose ahead in the opening cricket Test against Sri Lanka, in Kolkata on Sunday.
Chasing a daunting target of 386, the hosts collapsed after skipper Angelo Mathews was dismissed for 110, his seventh Test century, and were dismissed for 268.
Weather continued to hamper play in the match New Zealand must win to level the series after the hosts won the opener
Kumar Sangakkara continued his awesome batting form in Bangladesh as Sri Lanka won the second One-Day International by 61 runs in Dhaka on Thursday to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
Rohit Sharma-led India's main aim would be to settle their middle-order combination and also find a perfect batting position for Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik and Thisara Perera will be part of the World XI in the Twenty20 International against the West Indies, at Lord's on May 31, the ICC announced on Thursday.
Opener Kusal Perera stroked a fluent half-century before Sri Lanka's bowlers produced a brilliant display in the death overs to help their team pull off a thrilling five-run victory against South Africa.
As many as 10 Sri Lanka players, including senior pros like Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera, have decided to pull out of the upcoming tour of Pakistan, citing security concerns.
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews defended the team's cricketers on Tuesday after recording a statement before police in connection with a match-fixing scandal that has led to the suspension of a bowling coach. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) handed Anusha Samaranayake a two-month ban on Monday over his relationship with net bowler Gayan Vishwajith, who allegedly approached national team players to under-perform during a test match against West Indies in October. "Sri Lanka Cricket has received several complaints regarding the close acquaintance of Anusha Samaranayake and the main suspect Gayan Vishwajith, who had approached several national players for the alleged illegal activities of match-fixing," the SLC said in a stateme
Sri Lanka's slow bowlers spun a web around South Africa who collapsed for a meagre 126 to concede a significant first innings lead on a spin-dominated second day of the opening Test.
Heavy rain and bad light hit the second day of the historic Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi on Thursday, Pakistan's first home Test since a deadly attack in 2009.
Rajneesh Gupta lists the West Indian players's T20 Internationals records updated after their T20 World Cup game against Sri Lanka.
Root said that spinning tracks will throw challenges to the visiting team but they are adapting to the conditions quickly.
Skipper Rohit Sharma will be desperate to get back to form as a resurgent India look to set their record straight against hosts Sri Lanka in the third match of the Nidahas Tri-Series, in Colombo, on Monday.
Chasing 268 to go 1-0 up in the two-Test series, Karunaratne's 161-run opening stand with Lahiru Thirimanne (64) set the tone for a successful chase at the Galle International Stadium.
With just one win, Sri Lanka are currently at the sixth spot with four points and will have to win rest of their four matches to stay in contention for the semi-final.
Sri Lanka have not played a match at the World Cup since June 4, forced to split points with Bangladesh and Pakistan following two washed out games.
Craig Ervine hit an unbeaten 151 for his highest score as Zimbabwe recovered from a shaky start to reach 344 for eight at stumps against hosts Sri Lanka on the opening day of the one-off Test at R. Premadasa Stadium.
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