ICC Men's T20 World Cup: South Africa beat England by 7 runs in Super 8

Gros Islet: South Africa moved towards the semifinals of T20 World Cup as they beat defending champion England by 7 runs in a well-contested Super Eight stage game at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium here on Friday and they also maintained the unbeaten run in this tournament. 

Chasing 163, England could manage 156/6 in allotted overs. Harry Brook and Liam Livingstone put on a fighting partnership after England were reduced to 61 for 4 in the 11th over. Phil Salt (11), Jos Buttler (17), Jonny Bairstow (16) and Moeen Ali (9) went back after promising starts.

Brook and Livingstone added 78 runs from 42 balls for the 5th wicket. Livingstone was claimed by Kargiso Rabada after scoring 33 from 17 balls.

Needing 14 runs from the final over, bowled by Anrich Nortje, Brook was caught brilliantly by captain Aiden Markram in the first ball. He made 53 from 37 balls. Sam Curran tried hard but could manage only 6 runs from that over.

Earlier, led by a miserly Adil Rashid and Jofra Archer’s three-fer, England staged a good fightback after Quinton de Kock smashed a fifty to restrict South Africa to 163/6. 

Under glorious sunshine, South Africa cruised to 69/0 off seven overs but England fought back by switching to pace-off deliveries to keep the Proteas to a below-par total, which is also the lowest score batting first at this venue in the ongoing competition.

After conceding 21 runs in his first over, Archer gave away 19 runs and took three crucial wickets while Rashid kept things tight with his spell of 1-20, while Moeen Ali had figures of 1-25 in England putting the brakes on South Africa’s run-scoring, who didn’t have anyone to step up barring de Kock’s 65 and David Miller’s 43.

Pushed into batting first, Reeza Hendricks struggled to get going. But de Kock had other ideas -– dancing down the pitch twice to cart Moeen for six and four in the second over. He proceeded to whip and smack Archer for consecutive sixes, followed by ramping him over short third man to take 17 runs off him.

Hendricks nailed his pull to take a four off Archer as the pacer leaked 21 runs in the fourth over. De Kock hit two more boundaries to make it a glowing Power-play for South Africa, as they ended the phase at 63 runs, without losing a wicket for the first time in the competition.

After bringing up his fifty in 22 balls, de Kock earned a reprieve when his slog-sweep off Rashid was caught by deep backward square leg. But third umpire Joel Wilson turned the decision to not out – as replays showed the ball touched the ground before Mark Wood got his fingers under the ball.

England finally struck in the tenth over when a struggling Hendricks miscued the slog to long-on off Moeen, as the 86-run opening stand ended. From there, England staged a comeback as Jos Buttler took a stunning one-handed leaping catch to send de Kock back for a 38-ball 65 off Archer.

Brief scores: South Africa 163/6 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 65, David Miller 43; Jofra Archer 3-40) beat England 156/6 in 20 ovear (Harry Brook 53, Liam Livingstone 33, Keshav Maharaj 2/25, Kagiso Rabada 2/32, Nortje 1/35). Agencies

Also Read: Marizanne Kapp: South Africa Takes Confidence from Close Defeat in Second ODI Against India

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