By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
South Africa beat England by 7 runs in their second Super 8 match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 played at Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia on Friday.
In the first innings, Quinton de Kock gave South Africa the perfect start once again, running on the back of a fine performance in the previous game. He scored yet another fifty and his innings came to an end with 65 in 38 balls.
England’s Jos Buttler got the side back in the game with two brilliant efforts on the field. He first dove to take a brilliant catch to his left side to dismiss the in-form de Kock. This was followed by a brilliant run-out from behind the stumps to get rid of the dangerous Heinrich Klaasen for cheap. David Miller also chipped in the latter stages of the innings to score a 28-ball 43 to help the Proteas register a score of 163/6.
In the second innings, England suffered with their opening pair of Phil Salt and Jos Buttler not being able to deliver a quick start thanks to the brilliant efforts by Kagiso Rabada and Keshav Maharaj to get rid of the respective opening batters cheaply. Maharaj also went on to get the wicket of the experienced Jonny Bairstow as well to put England’s chase in trouble.
Harry Brook scored a valiant 53 in 37 balls to take the chase deep but the English batters were unable to score the runs. They needed 14 runs in the last over but the dismissal of Brook thanks to a brilliant effort on the field by the skipper Aiden Markram meant that England was unable to get the job done against South Africa.
South Africa are now on the brink of qualification for the semi-finals, having won both of their Super 8 matches so far.
England captain Jos Buttler: “I’d say it was lost in the powerplay. Quinton de Kock came out and played with really good intent and we couldn’t really match that. I think we were about 20 behind them at the end of our first six.
“We know we’re still in it. We played well today, we just didn’t quite get over the line.”
South Africa captain Aiden Markam: “Getting to those last three overs and it looks like the odds are against you, to hang in there and get the win shows a lot of skill, but it comes from a lot deeper than that. Fighting spirit really helped us today.
“We are getting closer to the complete game. We are not there yet but we are on the right track.”
Player of the match, South Africa’s Quinton de Kock: “I thought we bowled really well, especially in the powerplay. We controlled it really nicely. Overall we were pretty solid and to defend on 160 on a decent pitch is a good effort.”