South Africa v Canada

At East London, February 27, 2003. South Africa won by 118 runs. Toss: Canada. One-day international debut: A. Patel.

This match ended with neither team covered in glory: the South Africans, eager for an emphatic victory before their crucial game against Sri Lanka, were less than convincing, while Canada made few friends with their grim determination to bat out the overs. Davis Joseph and Ashish Patel had stunned South Africa by grabbing three wickets with only 23 on the board, and Dippenaar could have been caught in the slips on 12. He celebrated his escape by helping Smith add 109 for the fourth wicket, before some late hitting completed the recovery. Canada's hopes of making a serious challenge were fatally wounded by the departure of Davison in the second over, and once Zondeki removed Billcliff with his first ball, there was little to play for. This did not prevent Ishwar Maraj - dropped at least four times - taking root to reach a laborious fifty. Maraj became the eighth player to bat out a full allotment of World Cup overs (a sequence started by Sunil Gavaskar's notorious 36 not out at Lord's in 1975). For Donald, who would be surplus to requirements for the showdown with Sri Lanka, it proved an unglamorous end to a phenomenal career which produced more than 600 international wickets, though none against Canada.

Man of the Match: H. H. Dippenaar. Attendance: 9,279.