South Africa v Sri Lanka: match report

It was four for two after seven balls when Tillakaratne Dilshan also departed without scoring, edging a Tsotsobe delivery to wicketkeeper AB de Villiers.

Dinesh Chandimal got an inside edge on a Tsotsobe delivery and went for four, and eight for three became nine for five after five overs as Morkel had Kumar Sangakkara caught behind by de Villiers for four, then two balls later Robin Peterson caught Angelo Mathews for a duck.

Mahela Jayawardene became Tsotsobe's third victim when he went for two, caught by Faf du Plessis with the scoreboard reading 13 - and when Nuwan Kulasekara went for six, caught by du Plessis off Dale Steyn for six, Sri Lanka were 24 for seven.

Nine runs had been added to the total when Lasith Malinga played across the line to a Peterson delivery and departed for just one.

Kosala Kulasekara was given out lbw to a Morkel delivery but the decision was reviewed and Sri Lanka's top scorer was given a reprieve, keeping him at the crease with three still needed to pass Zimbabwe's record low ODI score of 35, against Sri Lanka in 2004.

However, the end was nigh for Sri Lanka when he holed out to Peterson for 19 off the bowling of Morkel - and the slow left-armer finished the contest when he trapped last man Dilhara Fernando lbw first ball.

Their score of 43 was the joint fourth lowest in ODI history.

Earlier, Hashim Amla made 112, Jacques Kallis 72 and de Villiers 52 as the hosts piled on the runs before losing their last five wickets for just 22 runs.

They had to recover from an early blow, though, with Test captain Graeme Smith out for just six as he suffered another one-day failure, having now made only one half century in his last 14 ODI outings.

He had already offered a chance on the previous delivery from Malinga before edging another into the gloves of Sangakkara.

But any hopes Sri Lanka had of attacking the South African top order were soon dismissed as Amla and Kallis began to pile on the runs.

They had moved the score on to 153 in the 29th over before some poor running gifted Kallis' wicket to the tourists, run out thanks to a strike from Jayawardene in the covers.

Even so, Sri Lankan joy was again short-lived as De Villiers stepped in and quickly got the runs flowing once more, needing only 40 balls to make 52 before he was picked off by a yorker from Nuwan Kulasekara with the score on 244.

Albie Morkel made a quick 25 but when he and Amla fell in successive balls to Malinga, South Africa began to wilt.

Duminy added just one, and Malinga then removed du Plessis and Steyn in the final over to claim figures of five for 53.

Counties' annoyance as ECB prepares to rubber-stamp Morgan report

Northamptonshire’s new chief executive, David Smith, is also concerned that county chief executives will be presented with “a fait accompli” when they meet ECB officials at Lord’s on Jan 23.

“It’s difficult to make any sensible comment about a report that few people have seen,” Smith said. “You would expect us to be given the chance for a constructive debate before any changes are made.

"At the moment we have a championship structure of 16 four-day matches, two divisions and promotion and relegation that has produced a Test team that is No 1 in the world. It works so why change it?”

The ECB’s own cricket committee have also not debated Morgan’s detailed findings. Morgan attended the committee’s last meeting before Christmas but Telegraph Sport understands that he did not divulge the contents of his interim report.

Morgan was initially tasked with leading a review into the business of county cricket when he was appointed by the ECB last year but his report has metamorphosed into another domestic structure review, revisiting some old ideas that were rejected by counties less than a year ago.

The ECB declined to comment on the reasons why Morgan’s report has not been made widely available or to speculate on the likely outcome of today’s meeting.

The sole dissenting voice at the meeting is likely to be Yorkshire chairman Colin Graves, who believes that Morgan’s recommendations are not radical enough. Graves, an ECB board member, wants the number of first-class counties to be increased and the County Championship to be split into three divisions.