Philander out as Sri Lanka win toss vs South Africa

New South Africa bowling star Vernon Philander was ruled out of the second Test against Sri Lanka starting Monday after failing to recover from a knee injury sustained during training.

With next-in-line Lonwabo Tsotsobe also unfit, Marchant de Lange makes his Test debut as South Africa seek to wrap up the three-match series after an innings and 81-run triumph at Centurion in which Philander claimed 10 wickets.

Sri Lanka won the toss and captain Tillakaratne Dilshan elected to bat at Kingsmead -- the only South African Test venue where his country have avoided defeat on previous tours.

"It looks like a good batting wicket and there will be no excuses if we do not perform. We have a game plan and must stick to it," said the skipper of a team seeking its first Test win this year.

The tourists also showed one change from the first Test -- which lasted less than three days -- with wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal winning his first cap in place of Kaushal Silva.

South Africa captain and opening batsman Graeme Smith admitted he would also have batted first given the choice as the Proteas seek to improve on a modest record in the Indian Ocean city.

Teams

South Africa: Graeme Smith (capt), Jacques Rudolph, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Ashwell Prince, Mark Boucher (wk), Marchant de Lange, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir

Sri Lanka: Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), Tharanga Paranavitana, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Thilan Samaraweera, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Thisara Perera, Rangana Herath, Dilhara Fernando, Chanaka Welegedara

Umpires: Steve Davis (AUS), Richard Kettleborough (ENG)

TV umpire: Rod Tucker (AUS)

Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)

Johnson, Watson fire Australia to victory

Pallekele (Sri Lanka): Mitchell Johnson grabbed a career-best 6-31 and Shane Watson smashed a brisk 69 to guide Australia to a seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the first one-dayer.

Opener Watson cracked six sixes and five fours in his 51-ball knock as Australia achieved a 192-run target with more than 11 overs to spare for a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

Left-arm fast bowler Johnson played a key role in restricting Sri Lanka to a modest total; marking his 100th one-day international with disciplined bowling to bag his third haul of five or more wickets.

Watson then kept pressure on Sri Lanka with an exciting strokeplay, reaching his 24th half-century in one-dayers with a six off unorthodox spinner Ajantha Mendis.

He dominated a 59-run stand for the opening wicket with Brad Haddin (12) before falling in the 12th over, but had put his team in a strong position at that stage. He also completed 4,000 runs in one-dayers during his knock.

Skipper Michael Clarke (53 not out) then added 101 for the third wicket with Ricky Ponting (53) to steer his team home.

"The wicket was fantastic. It was dry but held together better than I expected," said Clarke.

"It is important that I lead from the front and it is great having Ponting at number three with all that experience at the other end."

Australian paceman Brett Lee earlier became the seventh bowler to take 350 wickets in one-dayers when he dismissed Nuwan Kulasekara (34) for his lone victim of the innings.

Sri Lanka were struggling at 117-7 following Johnson`s four-wicket burst in his opening spell before lower-order batsmen Suraj Randiv, who hit one six and four fours in his 41, and Kulasekara put on 60 runs for the eighth wicket.

Man-of-the-match Johnson ended Sri Lanka`s resistance when he had Randiv -- the home side`s highest scorer – caught in the deep and then bowled Ajantha Mendis in his ninth over.

"This was not a 190 wicket. We did not bat well and our shot selection was not good. I think our spinners bowled well, but they did not have runs to defend," said Sri Lanka captain Tillakaratne Dilshan.

Sri Lanka got off to a solid start after winning the toss when Upul Tharanga (34) and Dilshan (29) put on 54 for the opening wicket before Australia struck back.

Tharanga, returning to the side after serving a three-month drugs ban, looked in good touch as he fluently drove Lee for two successive fours in the opening over.

Sri Lanka`s slide began with the dismissal of Tharanga, who was bowled by left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty while attempting to cut after hitting seven fours in his 28-ball knock.

Johnson struck in his first over when he had Mahela Jayawardene caught behind and then had Kumar Sangakkara caught in the covers. He also accounted for Jeevan Mendis and Angelo Mathews in his opening seven-over spell.

PTI

India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh - February 19th to April 2nd 2011

The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup will be the Tenth Cricket World Cup and will be hosted by three South Asian Test cricket playing countries: India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The World Cup will use cricket's One Day International format, with fourteen national cricket teams scheduled to compete. The World Cup will take place between February and early April 2011, with the first match to be played on 19 February 2011 with co-hosts India and Bangladesh facing off at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka and the final at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on 2 April 2011.

Australia set tough target against Sri Lanka

Sydney: Australia need to score 244 runs in 39 overs if they are to snap their six-match losing streak in all forms of cricket in the rain-disrupted second one-day international against Sri Lanka on Friday.

Upul Tharanga survived a farcical run-out attempt to contribute an unbeaten 86 to Sri Lanka’s 213 for three, which they achieved in 41.1 overs as showers stopped play for a total of nearly three hours at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Australia were set an adjusted total in line with the Duckworth-Lewis method for weather-interrupted matches.

The Sri Lankan top order put in a solid afternoon’s work to give themselves a good chance of claiming a first series win on Australian soil after relying on the tailenders to produce Wednesday’s remarkable victory in the first match in Melbourne.

Australia again laboured in the field with test strike bowler Mitchell Johnson the target of some big hits and Michael Clarke and Shane Watson conspiring to mess up a simple run out.

Teams:

Australia: Ricky Ponting (captain), Shane Watson, Brad Haddin, Michael Clarke, Cameron White, Michael Hussey, Steven Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz, Peter Siddle, Clint McKay. 12th man: Callum Ferguson.

Sri Lanka: Kumar Sangakkara (captain), Upul Tharanga, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene, Chamara Silva, Angelo Mathews, Thissara Perera, Suraj Randiv, Nuwan Kulasekera, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan. 12th man: Chamara Kapugedera.