Smith blasts SA Emerging to comprehensive win

Cape Town - Jason Smith hit 134 runs from 112 deliveries to set up victory by 69 runs for the South Africa Emerging side over their Sri Lankan counterparts in the first match of the One-Day Triangular Series in Pretoria on Wednesday. The 10-match contest includes the University Sports South Africa team.

Smith’s century included 17 fours and three sixes as he blasted South Africa to 294 (49.5 overs), after winning the toss and electing to bat first. Other notable batting contributions came from Patrick Kruger and captain Marques Ackerman, who narrowly missed out on half-centuries, returning for 47 and 41 runs respectively. Both batsmen shared 50 partnerships with Smith to keep the scoreboard ticking, after losing their top three batsmen (Karabo Mogotsi 4, Tshepang Ditole 5, Leus Du Plooy 0) cheaply.

Anuk Fernando did the most damage with the ball, taking three wickets for 67, with Keshan Wijerathna and Akila Dananjaya returning two wickets each.

Sri Lanka’s batting reply got off to a solid start after the initial loss of the wicket of Pabasara Waduge for 15 in the fourth over. Hashan Duminda (49) and Lahiru Milantha (59) shared a 50 partnership for the second wicket, but the rest of the batsmen struggled to convert their starts to a decent score.

Ackerman led the charge with the ball in hand, taking 2/22, while Bjorn Fortuin and Tshepo Ntuli returned a respective 2/31 and 2/40. Sri Lanka could only manage 225/8 in the end.

The South Africa Emerging side will face USSA tomorrow at Groenkloof.