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South Africa held their nerve to survive a late counterattack from Harry Brook and Liam Livingstone and maintain their unbeaten run in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 with a seven-run win over England in the Super Eight stage clash at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium on Friday (21 June).
Under glorious sunshine, England restricted South Africa to 163/6, despite a blazing 63 from Quinton de Kock. The defending champions were left in tatters at 61-4 before Brook hit a calculated 53 and shared a sensational 78-run standoff 42 balls for the fifth wicket with Liam Livingstone, who smashed a 17-ball 33.
Chasing 164, Phil Salt began positively with a pulled six and lofted four, before Reeza Hendricks leapt to his left to take a catch at cover on a drive off Rabada. The fast-bowling spearhead could have got his second wicket when Jonny Bairstow slashed to deep third man, who could not hold on to the chance. After England’s Power-play ended at 41/1, the defending champions suffered a meltdown as Bairstow cut straight to diving backward point and Jos Buttler pulled straight to deep mid-wicket off Maharaj. When Baartman had Moeen Ali pulling to deep mid-wicket, England were in deep trouble at 61/4 in 10.2 overs.
But Livingstone and Brook began to accelerate – the former began by slogging Nortje’s pacy ball for four, while the latter swept Maharaj and cut Jansen for a brace of fours. England took full advantage of Rabada’s pace-on deliveries as Livingstone swiped him with the wind for six, followed by Brook cutting and scooping for two fours to take 18 runs off the 15th over.
Though Livingstone mishit a Rabada full-toss to deep backward square leg, Brook got his fifty in 35 balls as the equation became 14 runs needed off the final over. But Nortje deceived him with a slower ball, which he chipped in the air, and Aiden Markram, running backwards from mid-off, took a brilliant catch over his right shoulder, which effectively sealed the game in South Africa’s favour.
Earlier, 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. After conceding 21 runs in his first over, Jofra Archer gave away 19 runs and took three crucial wickets.
Adil Rashid kept things tight with his spell of 1-20, while 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.
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 when a struggling Hendricks miscued the slog to long-on off Moeen to end the 86-run opening stand.
England staged a comeback from there as Jos Buttler took a stunning one-handed leaping catch to send de Kock back for a 38-ball 65 off Archer. Buttler produced another moment of magic when his sharp direct hit caught Heinrich Klaasen short of the crease at the non-strikers’ end.
Miller took two quick boundaries off Wood and Rashid to stage a fightback but lost Aiden Markram from the other end after the South Africa captain chopped onto his stumps off a loopy slower ball from the latter.
But Miller fell for 43 in the final over off Archer, as long-off timed his jump well to take an excellent low catch. Archer was on a hat-trick when he had Marco Jansen slicing to cover and fall for a golden duck. Though he didn’t get the hat-trick, Archer gave away eight runs in the last over to keep South Africa below 165.
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 overs (Harry Brook 53, Liam Livingstone 33; Keshav Maharaj 2-25, Kagiso Rabada 2-32) by seven runs
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