Watch cricket video highlights of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 forty-first match between South Africa vs United States of America. Venue of the match will be North Sound.
Another tight match for South Africa, who appear to have developed a habit of eluding scrutiny in the T20 World Cup in 2024. They were challenged this time around by the USA, who performed admirably in their maiden Super Eight encounter. USA restricted South Africa to less than 200 from 126 for 1 in the 13th over on a surface that was favorable to batting. After South Africa was set up by Quinton de Kock’s maiden half-century of the tournament, Harmeet Singh and Saurabh Netravalkar combined for three wickets for fifteen runs, but the remainder of the attack was unable to muster enough assistance. With a fifth-wicket partnership of 53 between Heinrich Klaasen and Tristan Stubbs, South Africa had a respectable total to defend.
Steven Taylor gave the USA a strong start, but Kagiso Rabada’s double strike in the Powerplay leveled the score. Although South African-born Andries Gous came dangerously close to having the final word in the proceedings, Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi managed to get the USA through the middle. With two overs remaining, the USA were within 28 runs of victory thanks to his unbeaten 80 and his 91 run stand with Harmeet, which was the second-highest for the sixth wicket or lower in all T20 World Cups. Eventually, South Africa secured their first Super Eight point as Rabada and Anrich Nortje held the USA at bay.
That was necessary. De Kock eventually unleashed the big guns in what may be his final overseas assignment, after scores of 20, 0, 18, and 10. Reeza Hendricks’ six over cover was South Africa’s first boundary, which he failed to hit. It took him till the fourth over to properly grab one, but once he did, he did not quit. With the wind blowing against his leg side, De Kock first dragged Jasdeep Singh past midwicket before hitting him for three straight sixes. Before this game, South Africa’s highest Powerplay of the tournament was only 10 runs, which Jasdeep’s first over cost. This set them up for a 64 for 1 score at the conclusion of the fielding restrictions. De Kock proceeded to get his highest T20 World Cup score of 74 and reach fifty with a six off Corey Anderson, the 26th ball he faced.
With Anderson using superb discretion to skier off Hendricks’ top-edge in the third over to Shayan Jahangir, who judged his distance from the boundary rope brilliantly at cow corner to finish de Kock’s knock, the USA’s fielding put them back into the game. However, it was Ali Khan who leaped forward to seize the opportunity to change the score of the innings as he rushed in from the deep backward point boundary. With 46 on his scorecard, Aiden Markram struck Ali with the final ball of the 15th over.
He pulled off a stunning stroke to prevent the captain of South Africa from raising the score past 200. Even with that, the USA will not be completely satisfied with some of their bowling as they conceded 53 runs in the final five overs. The other five bowlers bowled 12 overs for 148 runs, got no wickets, and conceded nine fours and ten sixes, whereas Netravalkar and Harmeet’s eight overs cost just 45 runs with four wickets and just four fours.
Rabada has mostly remained in the background throughout the T20 World Cup group stage, claiming just four wickets for 84 runs in four games. The discussion leading up to this game concerned who of the three seamers to leave out, with South Africa preferring to use two specialist spinners. Rabada was chosen over Nortje and Ottneil Baartman, who both presented compelling arguments to remain in the starting lineup due to their superior skill sets. In the fourth over, he responded to that request by dismissing an aggressive-looking Taylor with his third ball. As his stint progressed, he appeared to be picking up the pace.
After the Powerplay, with USA 53 for 2, Rabada put South Africa ahead with a catch of Nitish Kumar at deep square leg off a length ball on the pads in his subsequent over. With the USA needing 28 runs off the final 12 balls, he returned to bowl the penultimate over and ended the partnership that seemed to put the game out of reach. After a sixth-wicket partnership of 91 between Gous and Harmeet, Harmeet hit a Rabada full toss to Stubbs at midwicket, ending USA’s hopes.
Andries Gous of Welkom, who shares a hometown with Dean Elgar, was among the South Africans who accepted offers to play in the Minor League right before the Covid-19 outbreak. Three months ago, he made his debut on the international scene, relishing the opportunity to play against his native country and thoroughly enjoy himself. He allowed himself enough time to get his eye in and, with the sixth ball he faced, he smashed his maiden boundary off Rabada.
After trapping Marco Jansen for six overs long on, he destroyed Nortje, scoring eighteen runs in his third over’s final four balls. There were two sixes in a row during that, the second of which went over midwicket and brought Gous’ half-century off 33 balls. To keep USA in the game, he reserved the best for the 18th over, when he hammered Shamsi for two straight sixes. After needing 50 from the final three overs, they could only get 28 from the final two. Gous ended with a career-high 80, undefeated.
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