CWC History: Four matches that resulted in a tie

#2 Sri Lanka vs South Africa (Group Stage, 2003)

Match 40 between SL v SA ended in a tie

South Africa featured in another tied match at the World Cup, the following year to their 1999 semi-final defeat to Australia. This tied game proved to be even worse as they saw themselves making an early exit from the tournament at the group stage itself.

The Sri Lankan team won the toss and elected to bat first at Kingsmead, Durban. Marvan Atapattu was in a sublime form and brought up his 9th ODI century. He was well supported by Aravinda de Silva who scored a brisk 73 from 78 balls and together they put up a defending total of 268/9 in their allotted 50 overs.

South Africa needed to win this game to qualify for the next round as they were in a do-or-die situation. They started off well and were looking pretty much in control. Soon their run chase was hampered by the Sri Lankan spinners and they lost half of the team under 150 runs.

Mark Boucher and Klusener were at the crease to do the job for the Proteas, but rain played a spoilsport. The Proteas knew that they have to at least reach to the score of 230 runs by the end of 45th over to win the match on the basis of the Duckworth-Lewis method.

In the 45th over, Boucher went after Muttiah Muralitharan and struck 13 off 5 deliveries. The Proteas needed a single of the next ball to qualify. With rain storming in heavily, it was imperative for the batsman to take a single to win the match by D/L calculations.

Boucher played the final ball of the over towards the mid-on fielder who prevented that much needed single to the Proteas and ended it as a dot ball. Soon the players were off the field and the match was called a tie on the D/L method. With this tie, the South African team saw themselves out of the tournament with disappointment as they finished fourth in their group.