South Africa bring Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene careers to abrupt end

South Africa took on Sri Lanka in the first quarter-final of the 2015 World Cup in Sydney on Wednesday.

With Sri Lanka choosing to bat first, Dale Steyn came running in and picked up his first wicket and South Africa's second at a meagre score of four. (Source: Reuters)

Sri Lanka kept losing wickets at regular intervals with only Lahiru Thirimanne (41) and Kumar Sangakkara (45) putting up decent scores. (Source: Reuters)

Imran Tahir used the little spin available in the track to devastating efeect and picked up four wickets. (Source: AP)

In what was to be his final ODI game, Kumar Sangakkara fell just short of his half-century going down to Morne Morkel at 45. This broke his streak of consecutive hundreds which now stands as a record at four. (Source: Reuters)

JP Duminy cleaned out the tail and picked up a hat-trick to complete Sri Lanka's humiliation. The Sri Lankan total then stood at a measly 133. (Source: Reuters)

In response, Hashim Amla lost his wicket relatively early on falling to Lasith Malinga at his individual score of 16. (Source: AP)

Quiton De Kock continued the scoring though and his pairing with Faf Du Plessis bought South Africa home and sent Sri Lanka packing with 9 wickets and 32 overs to spare. (Source: Reuters)

It was an emotional moment then as two of Sri Lankan cricket's true legends departed the ODI format with Mahela retiring from the game entirely. (Source: AP)

Sangakkara will continue playing Tests for the forseeable future but said goodbye to the ODI format in dire circumstances. His contribution to the modern game however, will never be forgotten. At the end of the day though, South Africa moved into the Semi-finals of the World Cup. (Source: Reuters)