World Cup 2019, Match 35, Sri Lanka v South Africa: Why South Africa will win the match

Perennial underachievers, South Africa, have once again failed to perform well on the grandest stage of world cricket, having already been knocked out of the competition. The Proteas have played seven games and won only one of them, against Afghanistan.

With two matches left in the group stage, the rainbow nation would look to salvage some pride by winning as many games as many as possible.

Their next opponents, Sri Lanka are still in contention for an outside chance of reaching the semifinal but here's why South Africa will the role of party-poopers today.

Sri Lanka's strength has been their bowling unit. Whenever the Lankan bowlers have done well, the team has won. But today, the match will take place at Chester-le-Street, a venue which will be hosting its first World Cup match. In the last ODI match played here, England chased down a target of 310 set by a mighty Australian side.

This only indicates that the pitch is good for batting, and South Africa have the batsmen who can pile up a huge amount of runs on a flat track. They also have bowlers like Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi, who can make life difficult for the Sri Lankan batsmen in any conditions.

Not to mention, the above bowlers generate extra pace and bounce - something that has worried the Sri Lankan batsmen all season.

The only problem for South Africa has been their poor execution. They have a team which could have challenged for the World Cup but unfortunately, they are languishing at the basement.

With nothing to lose today, we can expect every South African player to play with fresh energy and a positive approach. If they do the basics right, nobody can stop them from defeating Dimuth Karunaratne's men today.

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