South Africa A romp into final

South Africa A booked their place in the final of the A team triangular tournament when they beat Pakistan A by six wickets with more than 12 overs to spare at Colombo's P Sara Oval on Tuesday.

The result gives the South Africans 11 points from three matches compared to the four of Pakistan and the two for Sri Lanka A.

South Africa have one remaining league match against Sri Lanka A on Saturday before next Monday's final.

The victory was set up by a partnership of 165 for the fourth wicket between Dean Elgar and David Miller after three wickets had fallen for just 11 runs in pursuit of a victory target of 192. Only 16 runs were needed by the time Elgar was dismissed for 79 (106 balls, 9 fours).

The Knights' left-hander, who captained the team in the absence of Thami Tsolekile, has been the player of the tour, having made a substantial contribution in all the international matches, both four-day and 50 overs.

For good measure he also contributed 10 overs of tidy left-arm spin which will help to make him a strong contender for the World Cup squad.

The top three failures at least gave Miller the opportunity to play his first substantial innings of the series and he grabbed the chance in authoritative fashion. Once Elgar was dismissed he did his job in seeing the team over the line, finishing unbeaten on 82 (92 balls, 7 fours and 2 sixes).

Having made his limited overs debut for the Proteas on the recent Caribbean tour he is another player making a strong bid for World Cup selection.

His List A batting average is now almost 40 which is exceptional for this form of the game and his strike rate is also outstanding.

The other half of the South African victory was set up by the excellent bowling of Rusty Theron (3/34) and Thandi Tshabalala (3/38) who reduced Pakistan A to 119/8 in 36.1 overs.

It was only spirited resistance for the last two wickets that set the South Africans any kind of target.