The perfect game

What does South Africa's thumping win over Sri Lanka in their World Cup quarterfinal at the Sydney Cricket Ground yesterday mean to AB de Villiers?

"Absolutely nothing," De Villiers said. "You are going to have to start over again. And the hard work starts now. We didn't come all this way to say we made it to the semifinals of a World Cup. We want to go all the way. We believe we have the right group to achieve that."

The Proteas surged into the World Cup semifinals with a dominant all-round performance against Sri Lanka.

De Villiers's team bowled and fielded aggressively to blow away the powerful Sri Lankan batting lineup for just 133. They knocked off their target with nine wickets standing and 32 overs to spare to book their place in the final four.

"I won't say it's the best [bowling performance by SA], but it was the most important performance in the most important game to date," De Villiers said.

The victory was the Proteas' first in a World Cup knockout match. In their six previous trips, they lost a quarterfinal and three semifinals, and tied a semi.

"It's a great achievement but we came here to win the World Cup," De Villiers said. "We've got, hopefully, two games to go - we haven't won the World Cup yet."

In their semifinal in Auckland on Tuesday, SA will play the winners of the quarterfinal between New Zealand and West Indies, who clash in Wellington on Saturday.

JP Duminy made history by becoming the first SA player and the eighth overall to take a hat-trick in a World Cup match.

Off-spinner Duminy sent the Sri Lankans slip sliding from 114/5 to 116/8 with the last ball of his eighth over and the first two deliveries of his ninth on his way to figures of 3-29. His spin twin, leg-spinner Imran Tahir, did even more damage in his haul of 4/26.

Morné Morkel became the only bowler in Sri Lanka's last four games to dismiss Kumar Sangakkara before he scored a century.

Who knows how much Sangakkara was distracted as Morkel prepared to bowl the 37th over by the spectator who clambered out of the Victor Trumper Stand and dashed onto the field - where he dropped his shorts and proceeded to hump the ground.

Sangakkara slashed the second ball of the over to third man, where David Miller held the catch. With that, Sanga's swansong to international cricket was sung. His last innings was a flinty 45.

With that, SA accomplished what the previous four teams had not, in eight-and-a-half hours of batting in which he faced 362 balls and hit 192 runs in fours and 42 in sixes.

And then, immediately, before Sangakkara had stepped over the rope for the last time as a batsman in a Sri Lankan one-day shirt, the gods cried big, wet tears of rain for him. But not for long, because this was the Proteas' day.

Then Quinton de Kock, who had a top score of 26 and an aggregate of 53 in his first five innings in the tournament, found form to guide SA to victory with an undefeated 78.

Scorecard

SOUTH AFRICA vs SRI LANKA

First quarterfinal in Sydney

SRI LANKA innings

K Perera c Q de Kock b K Abbott 3

T Dilshan c F du Plessis b D Steyn 0

K Sangakkara c D Miller b M Morkel 45

L Thirimanne c and b I Tahir 41

M Jayawardene c F du Plessis b I Tahir 4

A Mathews c F du Plessis b JP Duminy 19

T Perera c R Rossouw b I Tahir 0

N Kulasekara c Q de Kock b JP Duminy 1

T Kaushal lbw b JP Duminy 0

D Chameera not out 2

L Malinga c D Miller b I Tahir 3

Extras (4b 2lb 7w 2nb) 15

TOTAL (all out after 37.2 overs) 133

FALLS: 1/3 3/69 4/81 5/114 6/115 7/116 8/116 9/127

BOWLING: D Steyn 7-2-18-1 (1w), K Abbott 6-1-27-1 (1w), M Morkel 7-1-27-1 (2nb, 2w), JP Duminy 9-1-29-3 (2w), I Tahir 8.2-0-26-4 (1w)

SOUTH AFRICA innings

H Amla c N Kulasekara b L Malinga 16

Q de Kock not out 78

F du Plessis not out 21

Extras (4lb 12w 3nb) 19

TOTAL (for one wicket after 18 overs) 134

FALLS: 1/40

BOWLING: L Malinga 6-0-43-1 (2nb 3w), T Dilshan 2-0-10-0, N Kulasekara 1-0-13-0, T Kaushal 6-0-25-0, D Chameera 2-0-29-0 (1nb 8w), T Perera 1-0-10-0 (1w).

South Africa won by nine wickets.