Pollock blames pitch for South Africa loss

South Africa captain Shaun Pollock voiced concerns over the Tangiers Cricket Stadium pitch after his slide slumped to a 93-run defeat against Sri Lanka on Thursday.

Batting became markedly harder in the second innings, as the condition of the pitch deteriorated, assisting Sri Lanka's spin based attack which bowled out South Africa for 178.

"The surface did get worse and it was difficult to bat in the second innings," said Pollock.

He added: "I hope that doesn't set the tone for the rest of the tournament, as we really want it to be a fair contest between both sides. We don't want the result determined by the toss."

However, he admitted that his side had been outplayed by the Sri Lankans, who scored 267 for seven in the first innings and then bowled tightly.

"But I thought that Sri Lanka were very good, they outplayed us today," he said. "They picked the right team for the conditions and we were just not up to it.

"There were too many soft dismissals at crucial times, putting pressure on the new batsmen who were forced to start against Murali, which was not easy in such conditions.

"In the end we were forced to chase 214 to stop Sri Lanka picking up a bonus point, which could be important as the tournament goes on."

With all three sides having one game apiece, Pollock believed Sri Lanka had the upper hand having grabbed an extra point.

"It's basically do or die now. with Sri Lanka having an advantage by virtue of their bonus point," said Pollock.

Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya was delighted to have clinched a crucial game, a result that will boost their flagging morale.

"We needed to put up a good score and today we showed good discipline in our batting and the bowlers did brilliantly," said Jayasuriya.

He admitted that Sri Lanka should have batted first Pakistan on Thursday, a game they lost by 28 runs.

"We misread the pitch," said Jayasuriya. "Normally we would have batted but conditions were overcast and the pitch was damp."

Aravinda de Silva, who was promoted up the order to number four, was adjudged Man of the Match for his unbeaten 73.

"He has played more one-day cricket anyone else in the team and we wanted him up the order, which was good for the team because he batted really well," said Jayasuriya.

De Silva enjoyed the chance to bat in his preferred position: "We decided last night that someone had to play right throughout the innings, which is my normal role at number four."

All teams now have a rest day on Friday before the final round of group games are played out on three consecutive days with the final next Wednesday.