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South Africa cruise to 10-wicket win after SL shot out for 46
South Africa ended an eight-match losing streak, and five in the T20I format, with an emphatic win in their last outing of a long England tour. They finished third in Group B at the Commonwealth Games, and will not feature in the medal matches. Sri Lanka have been left at the bottom of the points table, with losses in all three of their group games and much work to do ahead of qualifiers for next year’s T20 World Cup, specifically in their batting.
In this match, Sri Lanka were bowled out for their lowest total in T20Is with only one batter – Chamari Athapaththu – getting into double figures. They had four ducks on the scorecard and only one partnership over 10 runs, and were overly aggressive in their approach, with plenty of loose drives. Shabnim Ismail challenged them with pace, Masabata Klaas’ lengths proved difficult to get away and Nadine de Klerk moved the ball both ways to leave Sri Lanka without many answers.
Overall, they had the lowest aggregate score across the group stage of all teams in the tournament, including Barbados, who did not cross 100 in two innings. Sri Lanka scored 106 for 9 against England, 102 for 8 against New Zealand and 46 in this match to total 254. Barbados scored 270 in the tournament.With not many to chase, South Africa eased their way to an incident-free victory in 6.1 overs, their first win since beating Ireland on June 17.
Ismail removed Sophia Dunkley with a pinpoint yorker off her first delivery two days ago, and struck with her opening ball again today. It was not quite as testing a ball, on a length and angling away from Hasini Perera, who had not opened the batting at the tournament in the previous two games. Perera played a waspy drive, without moving her feet at all, and got a thick edge that carried to Sinalo Jafta for a comfortable catch. Harshita Samarawickrema went the same way in the next over, as she tried to carve Klaas through the off side but did not give herself enough room and edged behind. Sri Lanka were 1 for 2 after eight balls.
De Klerk missed South Africa’s first Commonwealth Games match and bowled two overs for 34 runs in their second, so it’s safe to say things hadn’t gone according to plan. But she roared back to take a wicket with her first ball in the third fixture and finish with a double-wicket maiden off her first over to leave Sri Lanka in tatters. She was also tasked with bowling the last over of the powerplay and started with an innocuous, full, wide ball. Anushka Sanjeewani drove hard and should have beat Mignon du Preez at cover point but South Africa’s most experienced player showed the value of her years. She launched herself forward and took a spectacular catch with both hands to give de Klerk her first wicket.
At the end of the over, new batter Nilakshi de Silva advanced down the track to hit de Klerk over her head but handed her a simple return catch instead. Sri Lanka finished the powerplay on 12 for 4, the lowest of the Commonwealth Games. De Klerk went on to claim a third wicket in her next over, when she got the ball to swing in to Kavisha Dilhari, who drove loosely, missed and ended up with her legstump out of the ground. De Klerk ended with figures of 3 for 7, the best of her career.
Apart from carrying the flag at the opening ceremony, Athapaththu had a tournament to forget with only 25 runs from three innings. She stood alone batter as the top six fell around her but as the halfway stage of the Sri Lankan innings approached, with only 27 runs on the board, she decided to take on the bowling. Though Klaas was not bowling particularly short, Athapaththu swiveled around her back foot but didn’t get enough on the stroke and top-edged to give Klaas an easy catch. Klaas was included in South Africa’s XI in place of Ayabonga Khaka and finished with 2
Lizelle Lee’s absence has stalked South Africa over the past few weeks. Their top order struggled and the team has been unsure how to deal with questions around her retirement, but there are some signed they are moving on. Tazmin Brits and Anneke Bosch showed glimpses of settling into the opening berths, put on 64 in 9.1 overs against England and ensured the chase against Sri Lanka was clinical and quick. They were barely challenged by a demoralised Sri Lankan attack but timed the ball well and found gaps at will. They hit five boundaries and scored at a decent rate to end the match one ball after the powerplay.
Brief Scores:
South Africa 49-0 (Tazmin Brits 21*, Anneke Bosch 20*) beat Sri Lanka 46 (Chamari Athapaththu 15, Nadine de Klerk 3-7) by 10 wickets
(Cricinfo)
The first truly heavyweight clash of this expanded T20 World Cup format comes freighted with both history and subplots. A rematch of the 2010 World T20 final at Kensington Oval, the match pits Jos Buttler’s defending champions – who are aiming to become the first team to retain the trophy – against the Australian winning machine, victors at the 2021 edition and current world title-holders in Test and ODI cricket. And that’s before you throw in the Ashes for afters.
Already there is added pressure on England, after the rain in Bridgetown led to a share of the points in their opener against Scotland (and that having conceded 90 runs from 10 overs without taking a wicket in a tepid bowling display). Lose to their oldest rivals and it will leave their Super 8 prospects open to being waylaid by the perils of net run-rate calculations, or worse.
The Scotland match was the third abandonment in five suffered by England, after a rain-affected home series against Pakistan, which has clearly hampered their readiness for this campaign after almost six months without playing T20 together. It does not take much for a side to click in this format – and England looked in decent shape when they did get on the field against Pakistan – but Buttler will be anxious for things to go their way on Saturday, if only to avoid further questions referencing the team’s disastrous ODI World Cup defence last year.
Australia, under the laidback leadership of Mitchell Marsh would love nothing more than to add to the English sense of jeopardy – having helped bundle them out of the tournament in India on the way to taking the crown. Their head to head record is less impressive in T20 however, with England having won six of the last seven completed encounters, as well as that 2010 final.
Despite a wobble with the bat, Australia avoided mishap against Oman earlier in the week, the experience of David Warner and Marcus Stoinis shining through in difficult batting conditions. Surfaces in the Caribbean – not to mention those games staged in the USA – have already had teams scratching their heads; rather than the “slug-fest” England had prepared for, following a high-scoring tour of the Caribbean in December, it looks as if boxing smart may be the way to go.
Speaking of Warner, this could be the last time he faces up against England in national colours – and another match-winning contribution would likely reduce the chances of them meeting again in the knockouts. On the other side of the card is Jofra Archer, fresh from an emotional maiden outing at Kensington Oval and ready to take on Australia for the first time in any format since 2020. Can Mark Wood fire up England’s campaign, as he did during last summer’s Ashes? Will Pat Cummins be back to harass the old enemy once again? Seconds out, it’s almost time to rumble.
Cummins is set to return after being rested for the Oman game, which saw Mitchell Starc leave the field with cramp. Starc is understood to be fine and could keep his place – which would likely see Nathan Ellis miss out. Marsh is still not fit to bowl, with Australia likely to continue with the allrounder combination of Stoinis and Maxwell to give them cover.
Australia (probable XI): David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis/Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The one change England may consider is Reece Topley coming in for Wood, with the expectation that there will be some rotation among the seamers through the course of the tournament.
England (probable XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley/Mark Wood
[Cricinfo]
Once is coincidence, twice is a clue, and three times is proof.
To paraphrase Agatha Christie, that is the narrative around South Africa’s meeting with Netherlands at this T20 World Cup.
The Dutch beat South Africa at the 2022 tournament and ended their semi-final hopes in a match where South Africa appeared to be sleep walking, and then beat them again at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they exposed South Africa’s vulnerability in the chase. If they to do the treble, not only will Netherlands take the lead in Group D, but they will offer conclusive evidence of the threat they pose to Full Members, especially South Africa.
Of course, it will take some doing after South Africa’s opening performance against Sri Lanka, where they reduced their opposition to their lowest T20I total and chased it down in fairly straightforward fashion thanks to the most stable middle-order of their white-ball era. In Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, South Africa have bankers and big-hitters and, for this match, they also have the advantage of experience. They’ve already played at Eisenhower Park, and have first-hand knowledge that run-scoring doesn’t come easily;Klassen said they are prepared to use their “cricket brains” and play “smarter cricket”.
But the conditions could be good news for Netherlands, who are not naturally a line-up of big hitters and build their innings on a foundation of turning ones into twos. In other words, they tend to take a slightly more conservative approach to batting, which may work well here, but they’ll be wary of the uneven bounce of the surface and will have to come up with plans to counterattack especially against South Africa’s seamers. Their own bowlers were exemplary in Dallas and will look to build on that performance against a line-up that will likely be more proactive than Nepal’s, but who they have managed to keep quiet not once, but twice in the past. Third time’s the charm, they say.
Anrich Nortje’s stunning return to form against Sri Lanka means South Africa may not have to tinker with the bowling combination, and Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi may have to wait their turns to get a game. The batting line-up should be unchanged, with no space for Ryan Rickelton yet.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markam, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Ottneil Baartman, Anrich Nortje
Conditions in New York may tempt Netherlands to include an extra seamer and they have Kyle Klein in their squad. But it could come at the expense of a shortened batting line-up and they may not want to risk that.
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma
[Cricinfo]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
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