South Africa reach semis: beat Sri Lanka by nine wickets

The demolition was completed in just 18 overs with opener-wicket keeper Quinton  De Kock scored a quickfire 78 off 57 balls  to reach a humble target of 134 runs even after the team lost Hashim Amla (16) in the seventh over.

Earlier, it was a pathetic tale for the mighty Sri Lankan batting line up that crumbled in front of some stinging bowling by South African spinners as they were bowled out for 133 runs..

JP Duminy took a hat-trick while Imran Tahir picked up four wickets as South Africans bowled out the 1996 World Champions for 133 runs in 37.2 overs.

Angelo Mathews (19), Nuwan Kulasekara (1) and Tharindu Kaushal (0) were all dismissed by Duminy as he registered the second hat-trick of the tournament.

Kumar Sangakkara (45) and Lahiru Thirimanne (41) tried to put up some resistance with their 65 runs third wicket partnership. Tahir dismissed  Thirimanne to break the partnership and the rest of the batting line-up crumbled like pack of cards.

In the heavy-weight clash, Tahir bowled brilliantly and took four wickets by giving away only 26 runs for the side who have been often termed as 'chokers' for their poor show in crucial matches of the  World Cup.

Sangakkara, who has already created a record of hitting centuries in the ongoing World Cup, was slow in his approach and played 96 balls to score his 45 runs. He hit three boundaries in his knock.

The Proteas have never won a World Cup knockout match since their tournament debut in 1992, with a series of near-misses leaving them with the tag of chokers.

Sri Lanka have appeared in the last two World Cup finals and won the tournament back in 1996.