Proteas end World Cup jinx and power past Sri Lanka

South Africa have won their first ever World Cup elimination game, dispatching Sri Lanka convincingly by nine wickets at the Sydney Cricket Ground and advancing to a semi-final against either New Zealand or the West Indies.

Quinton de Kock hit an unbeaten 78 from 57 balls to complete the win in just 18 overs after a stunning Sri Lanka collapse that saw them bowled out for 133 in 37.2 overs.

The defeat spelled the end of the one-day international careers for Sri Lanka stalwarts Kumar Sangakarra and Mahela Jayawardene.

Quick Single: End of the road for Kumar and Mahela

Sri Lanka, having won the toss and opted to bat, lost regular wickets as JP Duminy took a hat-trick as they lost 4-2 in nine balls as the 2007 and 2011 World Cup finalists exited the 2015 tournament at the first hurdle in the knockout stage. 

Duminy's hat-trick - the second of this World Cup - and Imran Tahir's 4-26 in 8.2 overs, saw Sri Lanka bowled out for 133.

South Africa coasted to their modest target and the Proteas' win, their first ever in World Cup knockout match win, advanced them to a semi-final in Auckland against either New Zealand or the West Indies.

South Africa skipper AB de Villiers was happy to make light of the choking tag, when asked if his team needed to win the tournament to finally silence talk on that topic.

"I think we liked being called chokers, so we'll just keep that tag and move along, as long as we keep winning," he said.

He rated the Proteas' bowling performance as as one of the best he'd seen and said his team felt strong and confident heading into the semi-finals.

Classy left-hander Sangakkara was philosophical about the crushing defeat in his final ODI game.

"That's the way it goes. Someone has got to lose in a quarter-final it's a do-or-die situation," said Sangakkara, who will keep playing Test cricket until the middle of this year.

"I don't think it (being my last ODI) adds to the disappointment."

Sangakkara did at least become just the eighth player in World Cup history to score 500 runs in a single tournament.

Despite his prolific form, he had no reservations about his decision, referring to the state of his 37-year-old body.

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Sangakkara departs as a rain delay halts play // Fox Sports

"It's like the tape holding my fingers together, I've got a lot more holding my body together," Sangakkara said.

"Retiring from (one-day) cricket is not about form for me personally, it never is. I'm sure I can play a year or two more, but I feel the time is now and it's right."

He couldn't have tried any harder to resist the South African push, scrapping his way to an innings-high 45 off 96 balls, in an uncharacteristically subdued but typically determined knock.

It was a far less successful tournament for his long-time teammate Jayawardene, who is retiring from all forms of international cricket.

He ended the competition with 125 runs at an average of 25, with 100 of those runs coming in one innings against associate side Afghanistan

"He's scored a lot of runs, he's led our country to a lot of victories and he's given a lot both on and off the field to the country, so I think he's going to be sorely missed," Sangakkara said.

Sri Lanka's campaign, which had stuttered due to numerous injury problems, was rocked further on the eve of this first quarter-final when veteran left-arm spinner Ragana Herath was ruled out, prompting an ODI debut for 22-year-old Tharindu Kaushal.

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Duminy celebrates his hat-trick // Getty Images

Kaushal was the final wicket in Duminy's hat-trick, struck plumb in front to be out lbw first ball. Before that, Nuwan Kulasekara had walked after the faintest of outside edges into Quinton de Kock's gloves while Angelo Matthews, on the last ball of Duminy's previous over, chipped straight to mid-on.

The two spinners wrecked Sri Lanka's batting lineup, as Sri Lanka lost 8-69 with South Africa in the box seat to finally win a cricket World Cup knockout match, at the sixth attempt.

Batting first, Sri Lanka lost two wickets in their first four overs to new ball bowlers Kyle Abbott and Dale Steyn and recovered to 2-69, only to be routed by the spinners.

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Intense Steyn celebrates removing Dilshan // Getty Images

Imran Tahir (4-26) did the initial damage, breaking a threatening 65-run third wicket partnership between Lahiru Thirimanne (41) and Kumar Sangakkara (48).

Thirimanne hit several offside boundaries to get the innings back on track after Sri Lanka was reeling at 2-4 in the fourth over.

Tahir also dismissed Mahela Jayawardene and Thisara Perera before Duminy chipped in.

Duminy, who returned career-best ODI figures of 3-29, had captain Angelo Mathews caught at midwicket with the last ball of his eighth over.

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Tahir removes Thirimanne caught and bowled // Getty Images

Duminy then struck with the first two balls of his ninth over, having Nuwan Kulasekara caught behind and trapping Tharindu Kaushal lbw first ball.

Sangakkara, playing in his final ODI if Sri Lanka loses, played a watchful innings, taking 16 balls to get off the mark and over 40 before hitting his first boundary.

Sri Lanka: Kusal Perera, Tiilakaratane Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena, Angelo Mathews (capt), Lahiru Thirimanna, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekera, PHT Kaushal, Dushmantha Chameera, Lasith Malinga.

South Africa: Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock, Francois Du Plessis, Rilee Rossouw, AB de Villiers (capt), David Miller, JP Duminy, Dale Steyn, Kyle Abbott, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir.