DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen is a crown jewel of endurance racing.

With a history dating back to the late 1960s and a list of winners that includes some of the greatest road racers of all time, the annual six-hour battle on the 3.4-mile Watkins Glen International circuit is a bona fide big one.

On Sunday, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship returns for another six-hour battle at The Glen, beginning at 9:45 a.m. ET. The race, which also marks the third round of the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup, will be televised on NBCSN beginning at 7 p.m. ET.

The list of previous Six Hours of The Glen winners reads like a motorsports “Who’s Who.”

Legendary names in road racing like Jacky Ickx, Mario Andretti, Brian Redman, Jo Siffert, Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood were among the winners in the first decade of the event.

The late ‘70s and early 1980s saw more legendary names – like Hans-Joachim Stuck, Rick Mears, Johnny Rutherford, Derek Bell and Al Holbert – added to the Six Hours of The Glen’s winners list.

Beginning in September 1984 and running through the mid-‘90s, the race length changed to 500 kilometers, but still more legendary names – like Geoff Brabham, Chip Robinson and Juan Manuel Fangio II – were winners at The Glen.

The Six Hours returned in 1996 and, aside from 1998, has been run every year since.

Over the past 20 years, even more legends – like Scott Pruett, Bill Auberlen, Andy Lally, Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa – have pulled into victory lane after six grueling hours.

“Watkins Glen is, hands down, my favorite racetrack on the planet,” said Lally, a four-time Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen winner who will share the No. 44 Magnus Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 with John Potter and Spencer Pumpelly in the GT Daytona class on Sunday. “For me, it’s my home state. It’s where I grew up, not too far, and it is a special place for me, not only for endurance racing, but for NASCAR racing.

“I’ve raced prototypes and GT cars there, I’ve races open-wheel formula cars there and I’ve raced stock cars there. And every time, it’s always a battle. On the short course or the long course, for me, it just doesn’t get any better than Watkins Glen.”

To Lally’s point, the Watkins Glen Int’l circuit is another key contributor to the event’s prestige. Between 1948 and 1952, racing in Watkins Glen was done on a 6.6-mile course, utilizing streets and roads in and around the small village in the Finger Lakes region of Western New York.

The permanent road course began at its current location in 1956, and Watkins Glen hosted Formula 1 Grand Prix races for 20 years beginning in 1961.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series has raced on the 2.45-mile Watkins Glen “short course” every year since 1986, and IndyCar also has raced there several times, which all adds to the mystique of “The Glen.”

“I think Watkins Glen is an amazing track,” said Juan Pablo Montoya, who heads into Sunday’s race riding a two-race WeatherTech Championship winning streak in the No. 6 Acura Team Penske ARX-05 DPi with co-driver Dane Cameron. “It’s a really fast, flowing track and it really suits our cars.

“It’s tough. It’s one of the hardest races of endurance racing, because there’s so many fast corners. Physically, it’s very demanding and it makes it fun. It’s a place where you can push so hard.”

It’s also a place where Montoya has raced not only in the Acura DPi, but also in IndyCar and NASCAR, making him uniquely qualified to compare the experiences at The Glen.

“This (Acura DPi) is very close to the IndyCar,” Montoya said. “It’s actually shockingly close, how fast you can go, compared with the IndyCar. It’ll be interesting to see how much closer we get this year with the Michelins this year and the extra power. It should be at least two seconds a lap quicker than the last time we were there, so I don’t know.

“It’s going to make it a really, really brave place.”

By his own admission, Billy Venturini didn’t suddenly decide to turn Venturini Motorsports into a developmental team.

The team, once a small family-run organization started by two-time ARCA champion Bill Venturini, has become a multi-car powerhouse in the ARCA Menards Series. Since 2008, Venturini Motorsports, under the direction of Billy Venturini, has won 41 ARCA Menards Series races with a who’s who of star drivers.

Reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano, 2017 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series champion Christopher Bell and 2015 NASCAR Gander Truck Series champion Erik Jones are three of the dozens of drivers to take a turn behind the wheel of Venturini-prepared race cars during the last 11 years.

So what led to Venturini Motorsports becoming a developmental powerhouse?

Necessity.

“It was forced upon. It was a financial situation. We didn’t go from me driving to being like, ‘We’re going to be a driver development team.’ It went from we’re going to drive to, OK, I need to make a living,” 43-year-old Billy Venturini said.

The transition from family team to driver development team began in 2007 when Venturini inked a deal to put part-time racer Tom Berte in one of the team’s cars for a few races. The deal served as a way to pay the bills during a time when money was scarce.

“It was not a big-money deal at all, but it was enough,” said Venturini, who stressed that he was only a few months away at the time from having to find a job to pay his own bills. “It was enough of a deal … the only thing it did was it bought me time.”

Later in the same year, Venturini inked a deal to put Joe Gibbs Racing developmental driver Marc Davis in Venturini equipment at Ohio’s Toledo Speedway. The pairing worked and the result was a fourth-place finish.

That was the start of a beautiful relationship between Venturini Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing.

“J.D. Gibbs and I raced Legend Cars together, so we were buddies,” Venturini recalled. “We take Marc and we run him and we run another kid, not through Gibbs, so we run these two kids, younger kids and they’re both decent little race car drivers.

“First chance we get with Marc we run fourth at Toledo in 2007. That right there, it wasn’t a big sample size, but just the couple times we had decent drivers we did really well.”

It wasn’t long before J.D. Gibbs came calling again, but this time the stakes were higher. He wanted Venturini Motorsports to field a car for rising star Joey Logano in the Carolina 500 ARCA Menards Series race at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway.

“J.D. said, ‘What do you gotta do to be better?’ I told him, ‘We just need an opportunity, we can do this,’”

Venturini said. “I don’t know why he believed me, probably shouldn’t have, but he did. He gave me the opportunity to go to Rockingham in 2008.”

One could say May 4, 2008, was the day Venturini Motorsports became a developmental team. That was the day Logano, driving the team’s familiar No. 25 Chevrolet, annihilated the ARCA Menards Series field at Rockingham Speedway.

Logano’s lightning-fast qualifying lap at 146.645 mph was an indication of things to come in the race.

“We sat on the pole for the race, led 257 out of 312 laps and at one point lapped the entire field,” Venturini said. “We didn’t beat them, we kicked their asses. And we kicked the asses of some really good race teams down there. I knew when we went down there, I knew this was my moment. If I was going to make this deal work, I had to capitalize on it. We have to win. In my mind, there was no other choice than to win that race.”

Venturini Motorsports didn’t just capitalize, the team took the opportunity and drove it straight to the bank.

“That one day changed everything. It changed it all. Joey was perfect. We called the perfect race. The pit stops were perfect. Every star aligned,” Venturini said. “In one day, we went from family team trying to do this to … I think the style in which we won validated us immediately. We were on the map.”

The Toe Poke Daily is here every day to bring you all the weirdest stories, quirkiest viral content and top trolling that the internet has to offer, all in one place.

Jump to: Real Madrid 'bring the noise' with new away kit | Rio Ferdinand's fiancee can't escape him on hen party

D.C. United pipped Orlando City 1-0 in MLS on Wednesday, with Wayne Rooney once again scoring the pivotal goal that will live long in the memory.

With just 10 minutes played, Rooney picked the ball up deep inside his own half, looked up, spotted Orlando goalkeeper Brian Rowe had temporarily vacated his goal and proceeded to thump a monstrous shot in from where he stood.

You've got to give it to Rooney, the guy certainly knows how to score a bona fide banger, even at the ripe old age of 33.

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Real Madrid 'bring the noise' with new away kit

Let the world know we're ready. Raise the volume ?
The new @adidasfootball @realmadrid away kit out now.
Shop here: https://t.co/4sYIrimX3P#HalaMadrid | #DareToCreate pic.twitter.com/lm8gv5kPn9

— Real Madrid C.F. ???? (@realmadriden) June 27, 2019

After shocking precisely nobody by opting for a primarily white home kit for next season, Real Madrid have now unveiled the away strip that will be worn alongside it.

The Spanish giants have revealed a dark blue, black and gold shirt will be worn on their travels in 2019-20.

The shirt also features a "soundwave" graphic across the chest which apparently symbolises the "noise generated by the fans in the historic season in which Real Madrid conquered La Decima."

Maybe this will start a new trend in new kits, with fans moved to ask every summer: "Never mind how it looks... How does it sound?"

Rio Ferdinand's fiancee can't escape him on hen party

With a wedding on the cards, Rio Ferdinand's fiancee Kate Wright flew out with a group of her closest friends to Mykonos to celebrate her hen party in style.

Before flying out to the Greek island, "Mrs Ferdy-To-Be" posed for an ensemble photo with guests at the airport while perched atop a rather fetching custom suitcase bearing her future husband's grinning face.

View this post on Instagram

Me & the girls ready for my hen???? #MrsFerdytobe ... we decided to have a social media detox to actually enjoy ourselves rather than be on our phones checking Instagram 24/7.... be prepared for a LOT of piks ?? thank you @itluggage for our cases ? ✈️ #ferdinandputaringonherhand #gifted

A post shared by Kate Wright (@xkatiewright) on Jun 25, 2019 at 4:46am PDT

According to the Daily Mirror, Wright put a social media ban on the holiday while the party was in progress but she certainly made up for it after the blackout was lifted.

Indeed, we were treated to the truly harrowing sight of 16 expressionless, chanting Rio Ferdinands marching at us from out of the darkness.

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Now .... excuse my witch cackle ?‍♀️ BUT i could not breathe with laughter????? LOVE YOU GIRLS ?? #ferdinandputaringonherhand

A post shared by Kate Wright (@xkatiewright) on Jun 26, 2019 at 12:17pm PDT

Now there's an experience we're keen to never repeat.

If you're wondering what Ferdinand himself was doing in the meantime, he was out in Vietnam where he met up with an old work colleague.

View this post on Instagram

Good to spend last few days with Mr Ji Unit... one of @premierleague's & @manchesterunited best value for money signing in years, £4mill ?? ???????? 4 Premier League ???????? 4 Community Shield ???????? 3 League Cup ??? 1 UCL ?? 1 Club World Cup #ParkJiSung #MUFC

A post shared by Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) on Jun 24, 2019 at 12:36pm PDT

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- In the end, Gregg Berhalter's strategy worked, and while it wasn't much fun to watch, the payoff could come later in this Gold Cup for the U.S. men's national team.

Heading into the group stage finale against Panama, both teams had already secured their spots in the quarterfinal. The main questions centered on the order of finish and who each team would face next, but there were deeper issues, as well. The games in the knockout stage take place at an accelerated pace -- just two full days separate the quarterfinals from the semifinals -- and there is the matter of getting rest for the presumed starting lineup. That led to questions of squad rotation: How much, and for whom?

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Panama manager Julio Dely Valdes opted to name nine new starters, but Berhalter went even wilder, swapping out all 11 players that started against Trinidad & Tobago and replacing them with their nominal reserves. It seemed a bit of a gamble from Berhalter given how elusive consistency has been for the U.S., but he didn't see it that way.

"The decision to start 11 new players was an easy one, to be honest," he said. "We believe in the group. We believe in keeping the group together. We believe that everyone can contribute to this team, for the team's success, and we wanted to show that.

"The guys have been training really well, and they deserved this opportunity."

The game itself was hard on the eyes, even if it did end with a 1-0 U.S. victory. While the home side controlled the game's tempo for long periods, the attack sputtered, creating little in the way of chances. Some of this can be chalked up to some rust, while Panama seemed content to sit back and absorb pressure as well. The service from the flanks wasn't good enough, either, and was easily cut out by the Canaleros' defense.

"I think we gave too many bouncing balls. We lost the balls in tough areas; our touches were a bit sloppy," said midfielder Cristian Roldan. "Just a bit rusty overall. When you change the lineup, that can happen."

If a goal was going to come, it was either going to arrive via a mistake or a gritty play. As it turned out, it was a bit of both. Djordje Mihailovic swung in a corner that was intended for Roldan, but seeing his teammates marked, he kept the play alive and headed the goal back across goal. When a pair of Panamanian defenders didn't deal with the danger, Jozy Altidore went for the bicycle kick and deposited the ball in the net from close range.

The celebration that followed saw Roldan go for the bear hug on Altidore, only to realize the bear was too big.

"It's hard to grab that man. He's a big boy, and he's very powerful," said Roldan about Altidore. "It's very hard to get on his front side."

The sight of Altidore getting on the scoresheet was the most welcome development of the night. The Toronto FC mainstay remains the best forward in the U.S. pool, and his hold-up play and passing will come in handy as the games get tougher. But he entered the training camp for the Gold Cup carrying the remnants of a hamstring injury, and Berhalter has opted to bring him along slowly. While Altidore played 45 minutes in the 3-0 friendly defeat to Venezuela, he had logged just 16 minutes in the Gold Cup prior to Wednesday night.

The extent to which that has left Altidore frustrated is unknown. He's done little to no media since arriving in the U.S. camp and declined to speak with reporters after this match. But his primal scream of a goal celebration hinted at some pent-up energy, and he was determined to see out as much of this encounter as he could.

Berhalter said, "I talked to Jozy at halftime, and I asked him, 'How much more do you have in you?' He said, 'I want to stay on the field.' When you hear that from a player, it makes you feel great. And then when that player goes out and scores the winning goal, it makes you feel even better, because him and all the players on the field today, they wanted to win. They wanted to win for the team."

Given the fact that he lasted 83 minutes, it would seem that Altidore is ready to lead the line in the knockout rounds. As for the rest of the lineup, center-backs Miazga and Omar Gonzalez acquitted themselves well, and right-back Reggie Cannon was able to get forward and contribute to the attack. Yet it seems likely that besides Altidore, no one did enough to burrow their way into the starting lineup for Sunday's quarterfinal against Curacao. The minutes they chewed up still have value, however, in that they allowed the usual starters to get rest, an important consideration as the games get tougher.

With the quarterfinals now set to begin, the U.S. finds itself in a good, albeit imperfect, place. The U.S. knows it needs to be better, but given the alarm bells ringing at the beginning of the month following two warm-up defeats, the sight of a clean sweep in the group stage with an 11-goal margin in terms of goal differential is one the U.S. will take.

What matters now is performing when the Gold Cup stakes are highest. The prize is three wins away.

Marcus Trescothick is to retire from professional cricket in September after 27 seasons as a Somerset player.

The 43-year-old former England opener has announced his decision following a disappointing start to the current County Championship campaign, which saw him left out of the team after scoring 88 runs in eight innings. But Trescothick remains available for selection and would like nothing more than to crown his illustrious career by helping leaders Somerset to a maiden Championship title.

"It has been an incredible 27 years and I've loved every minute of it," Trescothick said. "However, everything has to come to an end eventually.

"I've been discussing my future with the club and my family for a while and we felt that now was the appropriate time to make this announcement in order for the club and I to put plans in place.

"There's still a lot of the season left and I'll be doing everything I can to put in performances for the second XI in order to force my way back into contention for the first team."

Since making his debut in 1993, Keynsham-born Trescothick has proved himself one of the best players the county has ever produced, breaking numerous records and playing in 76 Test matches and 123 one-day internationals for England.

Those numbers would be even greater, but for the stress-related illness that led to him returning home from an Ashes tour in 2006 and announcing his retirement from international cricket in March 2008.

A legend with Somerset supporters and, with a stand named after him at his beloved County Ground in Taunton, Trescothick can leave the stage assured of a place in the club's history books alongside the great Harold Gimblett.

While Gimblett will retain his record as having scored the most first-class runs for Somerset, Trescothick boasts the most first-class centuries, with 52, and the most List A runs, with 7,374.

In first-class cricket, he has scored 19,654 runs for the county, at an average of 41.11, and holds the record for the number of catches with 445.

Somerset have announced that Marcus Trescothick will retire from professional cricket at the end of the season, after over 26 years of first-class cricket.

What a career! pic.twitter.com/7SqDjuHBO4

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) June 27, 2019

His international career began with a one-day international against Zimbabwe in 2000 and he went on to score 5,825 Test runs at an average of 43.79, along with 4,335 one-day runs for England at 37.37.

As a member of the 2005 Ashes-winning team, he was awarded the MBE. He played in the 2003 World Cup and established himself as one of the most feared opening batsmen in the game.

Named Somerset captain in 2010, having helped the club win the 2001 C&> Trophy and the 2005 Twenty20 Cup, Trescothick led the team for the next six seasons.

Announcing his forthcoming retirement, he said: "The club, the members and the supporters mean so much to me. There are so many memories that I will cherish forever and Somerset will always hold a truly special place in my heart.

"Twenty seven years is a long time, but it's gone incredibly quickly. I consider myself very fortunate to have had the opportunity to do something that I love for that length of time and I'm extremely grateful for all the support that I've received throughout this remarkable journey."

Somerset director of cricket, Andy Hurry said: "Marcus Trescothick is one of the finest players that this country has ever produced and his record on the field of play speaks for itself.

"His passion and enthusiasm for the game of cricket is infectious, and his work ethic is phenomenal. He is the absolute personification of what a professional sportsman should aspire to be.

"Whilst his playing record is there for all to see, what you can't measure is the positive influence that he has behind the scenes. He leads by example in everything that he does, and the way that he goes about his business is second to none."

Trescothick plans a future in coaching and media work. He is a Mental Health Ambassador for the Professional Cricketers Association and has taken a leading role in helping fellow players fight the sort of illness which cut short his international career.

Big picture

It was only three months ago that Sri Lanka travelled the length and breadth of South Africa, only to be walloped 5-0 in the ODIs and 3-0 in the T20Is. Their bowlers were flayed all around while the batsman were repeatedly tormented by a fiery attack. Lasith Malinga struggled for impact and looked spent, grumpily berating his team-mates' attitude. What a different three months can make.

Malinga might still be the World Cup's grumpiest uncle, but he's also fired his team up to keep them still very much in contention for a semi-final spot. The South African camp, meanwhile, have their pride (and jobs) on the line after five defeats in seven games. South Africa's failure has been as incomprehensible as Sri Lanka's success, but here we are.

For South Africa, this match - and their final game against Australia - will present an opportunity to bid farewell, at least in this format, to Hashim Amla, JP Duminy and Imran Tahir, who are all set to retire from ODIs after the World Cup. For the moment, they are a team in limbo, with one foot in the past even as they eye the future.

Sri Lanka aren't quite done with the business of this World Cup, and their focus is very much in the present. Their victory over England and England's subsequent defeat to Australia have opened up the qualification race, and Sri Lanka could still reach 12 points if they win all three of their remaining games, potentially with a little wriggle room in the top four. They may well need it, if their mercurial run through this tournament so far is anything to go by.

Their two victories have been counterbalanced by two massive defeats - by 10 wickets and 87 runs - and the weather has also followed them around, with two of their matches rained off. The weather shouldn't be an issue this time around, and against a team who are out of contention and deep in introspection, Sri Lanka's biggest challenge could be to overcome their own inconsistencies.

Form guide

South Africa: LLWLL (Last five completed matches, most recent first)
Sri Lanka: WLWLW

In the spotlight

Rassie van der Dussen is possibly the only South African who will leave this World Cup with his reputation enhanced. Van der Dussen has not scored enough runs to outweigh South Africa's general inadequacies with the bat, but two fifties and an average of 54 in his very first World Cup campaign are not to be sniffed at. He has made a start in every innings, with scores of 50, 41, 22, 67* and 36, and looked to be proactive when set, hitting more sixes (6) than anyone else in his team so far. As South Africa look to move forward after the World Cup, it's possible that van der Dussen could be asked to play a crucial role - possibly even as a captain, with the incumbent Faf du Plessis suggesting he has "massive leadership potential".

How much does Lasith Malinga have left in the tank? He turned back the clock with the four biggest wickets in England's top order to help set up a 20-run win in Sri Lanka's last outing, and in the last two years he has been Sri Lanka's go-to bowler in every phase of the innings. When Malinga does well, Sri Lanka tend to also, and they need more of the same in their last two group games.

Team news

South Africa's selections are somewhat academic at this point, but they may look to give JP Duminy an outing ahead of what could be the final ODI of his career against Australia.

South Africa: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Aiden Markram/JP Duminy, 4 Faf du Plessis (capt), 5 Rassie van der Dussen, 6 David Miller, 7 Andile Phehlukwayo, 8 Chris Morris, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Lungi Ngidi, 11 Imran Tahir

Nuwan Pradeep is down with fever and could miss out. Suranga Lakmal is likely to come in.

Sri Lanka: 1 Dimuth Karunaratne (capt), 2 Kusal Perera (wk), 3 Avishka Fernando, 4 Kusal Mendis, 5 Angelo Mathews, 6 Jeevan Mendis, 7 Dhananjaya de Silva, 8 Thisara Perera, 9 Isuru Udana, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Suranga Lakmal

Pitch and conditions

This is Chester-le-Street's first match of the World Cup, and a fresh pitch could well encourage the bowlers early on. The average first innings score at this ground in the last five ODIs played here is a modest 262, and the team that bowls first has won three of those games and nine times out of 16 overall. Fortunately, the weather is expected to be fine on Friday.

Strategy punt

• Dhananjaya de Silva's offspin could form the basis of a solid game plan against Quinton de Kock, who walloped three half-centuries and a hundred in the ODI series against Sri Lanka in March. De Kock hasn't exactly struggled against Dhananjaya in the past, averaging 40.5 against him, but has been out to him twice. On his part, three of the five wickets Dhananjaya has picked at this World Cup have been left-handers. Almost a quarter of de Kock's dismissals in ODIs have been to offspinners, against whom he averages 38.4 (compared to a career average of 45.23). Against him, Dhananjaya could be Sri Lanka's secret weapon.

• Lungi Ngidi is yet to take a wicket in the Powerplay this World Cup, and has conceded runs at 7.2 an over at the top of the innings. Should South Africa consider using him as a first change bowler? While he has been ineffective with the new ball, Ngidi has taken all seven of his wickets at the death, and his economy rate of 6.4 in the last 10 overs is one of the best in the tournament. If South Africa allow Chris Morris, who has an economy of just 3.3 in the first 10 during this tournament, to partner Kagiso Rabada with the new ball, Ngidi could be given an extended spell at the back end of the innings.

Stats and trivia

• Sri Lanka have never lost an ODI at the Riverside Ground, having played here twice. This will be South Africa's first game in Durham

• Ngidi has taken 18 wickets in 9 innings against Sri Lanka at an average of 18.8, his best against any top 10 ranked opposition in ODIs

Quotes

"What's left to play for is really ourselves. We've dedicated the last two years to coming here and winning the tournament. We can't let two weeks' work reflect badly on us."
South Africa's assistant coach Malibongwe Maketa

"We think that we have a good chance because we are coming off two wins and a very good win against England, although we didn't play our best cricket to win the game in terms of batting. I think we had a perfect bowling display, defending that target."
Sri Lanka coach Chandika Hathurusingha

There is no real pressure. No way that they can choke. Far as South Africa are concerned, this could just be another match in a bilateral series. Will that free them up against a team they have routinely thumped over the last year? Of the last ten matches between these sides, South Africa have won eight. Even the two games that Sri Lanka have won were dead rubbers, after South Africa had already sewn the series up.

Or will the disappointments of this campaign weigh South Africa down even more? When you've planned, and played with the World Cup as your focus for two years, only to underperform spectacularly at the actual event, there are likely to be emotional consequences.

Will South Africa play like a team that has nothing to play for, or one that has nothing to lose?

"When you have no pressure of qualifying, they can come and, without any pressure, play fearless cricket," Sri Lanka coach Chandika Hathurusingha said of South Africa. "At the same time, they can turn up and just want to go home, so you never know."

"I 100% agree with the freedom - just go out and play your natural game, your naturally gifted game. That's not a cop-out" JP Duminy

JP Duminy, who may play his first match in over two weeks on Friday, on account of an injury to David Miller, believes in the "freedom" narrative. Or at least, he hopes the lack of pressure will transform South Africa. Having announced his ODI retirement before the tournament, it is one of Duminy's final opportunities on this stage.

"Is your foot on the plane or does that give you a sense of freedom? I 100% agree with the freedom - just go out and play your natural game, your naturally gifted game," he said. "That's not a cop-out. That is just an understanding that you have almost the license to just go out and play with the freedom that you were allowed to play with as a young kid, and play with a smile on your face. You play to enjoy the game and that's the kind of mentality that I certainly want to end my international one-day career with.

"I'll be having fun with my friends on the field, understanding what a huge privilege it was to represent my country so many times. You should never take that for granted. And if any of us has one foot on the plane, that means you are taking it for granted."

Although South Africa are out, a win for them in Durham will substantially diminish Sri Lanka's chances of qualifying for the semi-finals. The recent history between these two sides suggests South Africa should ease past this opposition, but as results from various matches over the past week have shown, recent history doesn't always count for much in the bump and grind of a World Cup.

"We played good cricket against Sri Lanka, both in Sri Lanka a few months ago, and recently in South Africa, so we know we can beat them," Duminy said. "I wouldn't say that's a mission of ours to stop them from qualifying. I think the important mission for us is to play good cricket - the cricket we know and the brand we know we are capable of playing.

"I think if we do that, particularly tomorrow, and in the game against Australia, we give ourselves the best chance of beating them."

In both their wins so far, Sri Lanka's bowlers have bailed the batsmen out. Defending 187 against Afghanistan, then 233 against England, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Pradeep and company sent down intense spells, and prised points out of the closed fists of their opponents.

Sri Lanka know, though, that if they are to make more of an impact at the World Cup than merely delivering its biggest upset so far, their batsmen must step up. There have been signs that one or two of them are breaking out of ruts, but it has been just that - signs. Their highest individual score across four matches is Dimuth Karunaratne's 97. They haven't crossed 250 once. Their middle order has repeatedly collapsed.

The man they are looking to for leadership with the bat is the top order's most-experienced campaigner, and it is in his most-recent performance from which hope springs for Sri Lanka. By his own admission, Angelo Mathews was far from fluent in his vital 85 not out against England, but he did spend 115 balls at the crease. It is only when seniors like Mathews begin to perform, that Sri Lanka's plans come together, coach Chandika Hathurusingha said.

"Angelo doing well against England helped lift the other players as well, and that goes a long way," he said. "He's a world-class player, and he showed a lot of mental resilience in that innings because he was under pressure, the team was under pressure for various reason, and he was coming without many runs.

"The thing about good teams is that their senior players turn up. When big players perform, it's a huge confidence boost for everyone, because they generally make their contributions at crucial times, and they turn matches. Other teams have the likes of Kane Williamson and Joe Root. For us, it's important for our big players to do well, because our plans revolve around those players to an extent. It's when they do well, that others can play around them and we get a good team performance. Angelo showed a lot of character."

Batting coach Jon Lewis also hoped that getting to a substantial score will help Mathews recover more fluent form. Mathews has generally done well in England - his batting average of 44.72 in England is higher than his overall career figure of 41.79. Prior to that 85 not out, however, his scores in the tournament had been 9,0 and 0.

"Angelo probably got a lot of confidence having those numbers against his name," Lewis said. "Great batsmen tell you that they feel confidence when they have numbers. He wasn't so fluent against England, but he recognized what the pitch and the team required and put together some very good partnerships. He did the right thing."

In addition to Mathews and Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis and Avishka Fernando made 40s for Sri Lanka, after Kusal Perera made a rapid half century against Australia in the previous match. Sri Lanka hope that the seeds for a collective turnaround have been sown.

"There are guys who have got runs in the last two innings - everybody feels little bit better," Lewis said. "We have had two guys who have battled over 100 balls in the last two games and that's a good indication. That's something we have not been doing over the last year - playing 100 balls. It has been something that we have been asking for. Contributions beyond just batting 40 or 50 balls."