Staff Reporter.
The Proteas bow out on a high, thanks to Kagiso Rabada’s brilliant hat-trick. That was exactly where England lost the plot, eventually falling short by 10 runs.
However England qualified for the semi-finals of the Men’s T20 World Cup despite an entertaining defeat by South Africa in Sharjah.
Although they inflicted a first defeat of the tournament on England, South Africa’s failure to limit them to 131 or fewer meant Australia reached the last four at the Proteas’ expense.
Significantly, England lost opener Jason Roy to what appeared to be a serious calf injury.
He looked close to tears when forced to retire hurt on 20 and was seen on crutches after the game.
In a game full of wonderful striking, Rassie van der Dussen made a brilliant 94 not out from 60 balls in South Africa’s 189-2, sharing an unbroken 103-run stand with Aiden Markram, who scored 52 not out from 25 deliveries.
South Africa skipper Themba Bavuma…“The win was important. A bit of a bittersweet ending for us. We achieved what we wanted to do in terms of winning the game but didn’t win it well enough. There is not much I can discredit the guys on in the field or with the bat and I felt we were largely good with the ball as well. There is a lot to be proud of as a team. A young, inexperienced side winning four of out of five games.”
England captain Eoin Morgan…”I think this game does a lot for us. I thought it was a really good wicket and South Africa came really hard at us. We were a little bit off in the field but bowled reasonably well to keep them to around and about a par score. With the dew coming down later on, we thought we were right in the game. Jason Roy going down in the manner he did does hurt you but to get that close, we felt we were in the game throughout.”