ICC Cricket World Cup: Knock out Stage begins

In the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 all important quarter final stage begins today. With all the eight teams lined up for the quarterfinal clash there is no margin for error left. In today’s fixture runners up from the past two editions Sri Lanka has won the toss and decided to bat first against South Africa.

The match is being played at Sydney Cricket Ground.

Sri Lanka made a last-minute change. Both the incumbent spinners – Seekkuge Prasanna and Sachithra Senannayake – were left out. A new opener, Kusal Perera, was drafted in, pushing Lahiru Thirimanne down the order. On the other hand, South Africa, wore a settled look with Faf du Plessis’ returning ahead of Farhaan Behardien, making it their strongest XI.

Sri Lanka: 1 Kusal Perera, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Lahiru Thirimanne, 6 Angelo Mathews (capt.), 7 Thisara Perara, 8 Tharindu Kaushal, 9 Nuwan Kulasekara, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Dushmantha Chameera

South Africa: 1 Hashim Amla, 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 AB de Villiers (capt.), 5 JP Duminy, 6 David Miller, 7 Rilee Russouw, 8 Kyle Abbott, 9 Morne Morkel, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Imran Tahir