Johannesburg, Sept. 23: Yet again, South Africa had their frailties exposed in brutal fashion when Sri Lanka humiliated one of the tournament favourites in the opening match of the 2009 Champions Trophy at Centurion near here on Tuesday night.

And while home captain Graeme Smith sought to paper over the cracks that are already appearing in the Proteas’ campaign by ascribing the 55-run Duckworth/Lewis defeat on one bad day for his troops, the methodical manner in which Kumar Sangakkara’s side laid bare South African claims that they were fresh, rested and ready for action could well spell an early end to South Africa’s run here.

"I think that what we need to look at as a team is that we were just tentative with the ball," Smith said after the game. "We lacked the basics. I think not having played for three months those were crucial aspects for us.

"Although it was our first outing we have no excuses. We need to improve quickly and hopefully do a lot better. It is a question of executing the basics properly," he added.

Chasing a substantial 320 to win that was set up by Tillakaratne’s 106, his sixth international hundred for the calendar year, Smith started well but was undone almost in the blink of an eye. On Monday, he had downplayed the threat posed by Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis, but when it came putting words into action, the Proteas’ skipper was found wanting.

Smith (58, 44b, 9x4, 1x6) and Jacques Kallis (41, 48b, 4x4) had resurrected the chase after losing Hashim Amla early, but Mendis bowled the former with his "flick" delivery – the ball turning in almost a foot to beat the proffered bat. The bowler then followed up when he deceived Kallis into driving uppishly, the chance acrobatically taken by a diving Angelo Mathews at mid-off.

Mendis was on target again off the very next ball when he formed J.P. Duminy to play off, and from then on, the chase was more a formality than an active match with the heart of the South African batting ripped out.

Mendis finished with 3/30 from his seven overs, receiving good support from Mathews (2/43) and Lasith Malinga (2/43).

Though Mark Boucher (26), Albie Morkel (29 not out) and Johan Botha (21) kept South Africa going, the run rate had climbed past the nine an over mark when rain became too heavy by the 38th over for cricket to continue, and spare the hosts the agony of prolonging their lost cause.

Sangakkara later sent out a note of caution to the rest of the field. "As a side, I feel we are still firing at 75% maybe. So we have a lot of areas to improve, but the good thing is that we’re still winning. But the sky is the limit if we can work harder, make sure we keep to our basics and not get too carried away with wins like this."

Scores: Sri Lanka 319/8 in 50 overs (Dilshan 106, Sangakkara 54, Jayawardena 77; Steyn 3/47 Parnell 3/79) bt South Africa 206/7 in 37.4 overs (Smith 58, Kallis 41; Mendis 3/30, Malinga 2/43)