Sri Lanka horrified by crushing one-day loss

Colombo: Sri Lankan Government Spokesman and Minister of Media & Information, Keheliya Rambukwella said he was "horrified" when the national cricket team lost by a huge 258-run margin to South Africa in the first one-dayer at Paarl.

Replying to a South Africa`s total of 301 for eight, Sri Lanka lost their first six wickets for 13 runs before being bundled out for 43, their lowest ODI score. In fact, South Africa`s victory margin of 258 runs was the third biggest in the history of one-dayers. Forty-three is the fourth lowest total in the history of all ODIs and Sri Lanka`s worst since they were skittled out for 55 against Clive Lloyd`s West Indian side in 1986 in Sharjah. "You can understand a defeat but not something like this," said Rambukwella whose son Ramith is a Sri Lankan U-19 international said. Rambukwella said some urgent action was needed to restore Sri Lanka`s cricketing pride after the shocking defeat and felt that lack of team spirit might be the cause. The crushing one-day defeat followed Sri Lanka`s 1-2 loss to Proteas in the Test series and came after the local governing body saw its first election in seven years after a string of politically appointed interim committees had run the game since 2005. Rambukwella`s brother Lalith is a member of the new SLC administration. PTI