Sports
South Africa pip England in humdinger, set up final date with Australia
South Africa sealed their first-ever final berth in Women’s T20 World Cup history with a scintillating allround display to pip England by six runs in the final-over thriller at Newlands in Cape Town on Friday (February 24).
Fifties from openers Tazmin Brits (68) and Laura Wolvaardt (53), and a late cameo from Marizanne Kapp (27* off 13) propelled South Africa to a competitive 164/4 but it looked tad under with the kind of start England openers made in the chase. However, Shabnim Ismail (3-27) dented their powerplay charge and Ayabonga Khaka (4 for 29) later starred in a fatal collapse of 4 for 8 from England, keeping them to 158/8 in reply and setting up the host nation’s final date with defending champions Australia.
Unchanged from their previous encounter, and having opted to bat first with the intention of putting a defendable score on the board, the South African openers were not able to get the kind of start they would have hoped for. With 21 dots in the first-four overs, that included just a solitary boundary, the home side were cautious in approach. Wolvaardt then switched gears fifth over onwards, taking on off-spinner Charlie Dean with a lofted six to long-off, and Brits joined in the next as the home side finished the powerplay with a decent recovery to 37/0.
The middle-overs was a very productive phase. The duo raised their third half-century stand of the World Cup by the end of the eight over and upped the ante soon after. Wolvaardt reached her second successive half-century in the World Cup, off 42 balls, with her lofted drive through the covers off Sophie Ecclestone but the left-armer had her revenge in the same over, inducing a leading edge that was taken comfortably at point.
The partnership was broken at 96 in the 14th over, and the well-set Brits took charge as she smacked 6, 6, 4 off Sarah Glenn to give South Africa a much-needed boost. The last of those boundaries also took Brits to her second fifty in as many games, in 43 balls. Lauren Bell returned in the 18th over to send back the dangerous Brits on 68 (55 balls) and Ecclestone’s three-run double-wicket over dented South Africa’s momentum significantly when they lost hard-hitting Chloe Tryon and Nadine de Klerk cheaply.
Kapp stepped up though, dispatching the waist-high full toss from Katherine Sciver-Brunt to fine leg before closing the final over with back-to-back boundaries. The 66 runs South Africa stole in the last six overs gave them a solid score on a used pitch but England weren’t going down without a tough fight.
In fact, for the first 16 overs, it didn’t look like England were going down at all. Sophia Dunkley and Danni Wyatt wasted no time in getting going in the 165-run chase. The opening pair launched a flurry of boundaries in the powerplay – the highlight of which was Dunkley hitting a hat-trick of them off Nonkululeko Mlaba that helped breach the 50-run mark in the fifth over itself. Ismail, however, sucked a bit of the momentum out of England’s blistering start with twin strikes in the final powerplay over. Aided by some stunning fielding from Brits at midwicket, the South African pacer ended Dunkley’s superlative 16-ball cameo of 28 first ball and then handing Alice Capsey a second-ball duck.
Wyatt and Nat Sciver-Brunt joined hands at 53/2 and kept at least a boundary an over coming until the drinks break to help England keep up with the asking-rate. However, the break brought a crucial breakthrough for South Africa. Brits was involved in a third successive dismissal as she put in a diving effort to pouch Wyatt’s pull at short fine, ending the opener’s 30-ball knock on 34.
Heather Knight (31 off 25) broke the shackles after a couple of quiet overs, lofting Chloe Tryon over extra cover for England’s first six of the match. Her 47-run partnership with Nat kept England in the hunt right until the death overs. The 100 came up in the 14th over and the English vice-captain took Ismail for a 14-run over soon after, reducing the equation down to 34 required off 24.
But just as England seemed to be cruising, de Klerk returned for a game-changing over when she had Nat toe-ending a full-toss to Brits at long-on. Khaka hammered home the advantage in the next over, dismissing Amy Jones, Ecclestone and Katherine as England slipped to 140/7 from a rather comfortable 132/3. Knight, who witnessed the wicket procession at the other end, slammed Kapp for a six straight down the ground in a 12-run penultimate over but Ismail knocked out her leg pole to dash England’s faint hopes of getting the 13 they needed in the last six balls.
Brief scores:
South Africa 164/4 in 20 overs (Tazmin Brits 68, Laura wolvaardt 53; Sophie Ecclestone 3-22) beat England 158/8 in 20 overs (Nat Sciver-Brunt 40; Ayabonga Khaka 4-29, Shabnim Ismail 3-27) by 6 runs.
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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