It was an encounter that got spectators on the edges of their seats, South Africa beat defending champions England by seven runs to keep its slate clean in the Super 8 round of the T20 World Cup on June.21. It was yet another nail-biting finish for the Proteas. Earlier, they survived a scare from the US in their first Super 8 game.
It was an excellent piece of bowling by Anrich Nortje who was called in to bowl the last over of the game with the defending champions still needing 13 runs for a win. It was a great move by skipper Alden Markram. With his first ball, he had shown the way to Pavilion to Harry Brook.
Harry Brook was the architect of England’s fightback. He made 53 from 37 balls and held the team innings together. Once he was gone with the total reading of 150 for six, it was almost all over for England. Though Sam Curran hit a four of Nortje on the third ball, two golden dot balls finally clinched the game for the South Africans.
Batting first, South Africans had a great start with Quinton de Kock and Reeza Hendricks putting up 86 for the first wicket. Quinton de Kock survived a close caught-in deep third umpire review decision. After Reeza departed at 86, Quinton de Kock followed soon. The second South African wicket fell at 92. Quinton de Kock fell to Jofra Archer for 65 made from 38 balls with four hits to the fence and as many hits to the maximum.
Once the openers were gone, England started tightening its grip over the game with some good bowling. Other than David Miller who made 43 from 28 balls, another South African batsman to reach double figures was Tristan Stubbs who remained not out on 12 made from 11 balls. They made 163 for six wickets in the stipulated 20 overs.
The English fightback was mainly led by Harry Brook (53) and Liam Livingstone (33) while supporting contributions came from Phil Salt (11), Jos Butler 917), Jonny Bairstow (16), and Sam Curran (10 not out). For South Africa, bowlers who did the trick were Kagiso Rabada (2/32), Keshav Maharaj (2/25), Otnell Baatman (1/27) and Anrich Nortje (1/35).
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