Watch cricket video highlights of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 forty-fifth match between South Africa vs England. Venue of the match will be Gros Islet.
Is now the wrong time to tell it? that it appears the moment is right for South Africa. They overcame many scares in Saint Lucia to defeat the reigning champions England in an exciting match and go undefeated in the T20 World Cup 2024. Despite scoring 63 on the powerplay and just another 100 in the next 14 overs, South Africa didn’t appear to have enough runs. On a slower-than-expected pitch, they appeared to have made a mistake in their selection, selecting just one specialist spinner, whom they had removed before the 13th over of England’s chase. Additionally, it seemed that their quicks had not fully embraced the pace-off strategy, as they conceded 52 runs in three overs between the 15th and 17th over, leaving England requiring just 25 runs from the final 18 balls.
However, Kagiso Rabada only allowed four runs in his last over after having Liam Livingstone caught at deep backward square off a full toss, which he celebrated in his face. With just seven runs let up in his outstanding penultimate over—bowling into the pitch and picking up pace—Arich Nortje had 13 runs left to defend in the last over. Harry Brook smashed his first ball down the ground in an attempt to reach six, but Aiden Markam came racing back from mid-on and caught it over his shoulder. Even though the game was over at that point, Nortje still had five deliveries left. He bowled with conviction, limiting England to six runs in the twentieth over.
Aside from the theatrics, England might not be all that upset over the narrow loss. Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, their spinners, were excellent, taking 2 for 45 in 7 overs; Reece Topley gave up just 23 in his 4 overs; and Harry Brook hit his maiden fifty-score in the T20 World Cup. Even if the top order’s shot selection may come under fire, England will still be optimistic about their prospects of making it to the semi-finals given their strong net run rate and upcoming match against the USA.
Reece Topley and Moeen Ali, who have both defeated Quinton de Kock in the past, opened the bowling for England, demonstrating their excellent preparation for the match. He had been eliminated four times by Topley in six matches, and Moeen six times in fifteen, but neither player had the early advantage in this match. Rather, de Kock punished Jofra Archer with a string of pick-up strokes over the leg side after opening the boundary count with a four and a six down the ground from Moeen. De Kock hit 17 runs in Archer’s opening over, including back-to-back sixes.
After reaching fifty off of 22 balls, De Kock tied Aaron Jones for the quickest half-century of the competition. However, two overs later, on 58, he had the chance to be out after slog-sweeping an Adil Rashid googly to deep backward square. The play seemed clean to TV umpire Joel Wilson when Mark Wood had to stretch forward to grab the catch, but Wilson found the ball had broken through his fingers and struck the ground.
Before Archer exacted his retribution, De Kock only contributed seven more runs. With a shorter, slower ball, he struck the boundary, de Kock gave way, and Jos Buttler sprang to his left with one hand while holding onto a humdinger. That served as the starter. Buttler’s primary course of action began after Heinrich Klaasen, on eight, took a long time to answer when non-striker David Miller called for a run following a short ball from Wood that had deflected towards short fine leg off the wicketkeeper’s pad. Buttler pounced, displaying amazing awareness and aim to toss the stumps down at the non-striker’s end with Klaasen well short. Klaasen was sluggish between the wickets.
Can England catch up? Hold my beer, South Africa said, seizing the first opportunity presented to them by Reeza Hendricks. Phil Salt attempted an overhead drive off Rabada, but it did not go as planned, and Hendricks made a remarkable catch by leaping two-handed to his left. Bairstow cut Rabada to deep third, where he should have got a second, but Klaasen could not hold on.
Another superb catch kept South Africa’s loss to six runs from the drop. At this point, Keshav Maharaj sent the ball up, Bairstow sliced, and Nortje threw himself to his right to collect a stunner. When Buttler attempted to take Maharaj on and was caught at deep mid-wicket, Klaasen was able to make amends. But none of them catches match to what Markram did in the last over when Harry Brook attempted to drive Nortje down when he was on 53. The game’s last pivot happened when he raced back from mid-on and accepted the catch over his right shoulder.
With Keshav Maharaj out of the game and England needing 77 runs from the final six overs, it was up to the seamers to defend, starting with the most seasoned player in South Africa, Rabada. Assigned to bowl in the fifteenth over, Rabada started quickly and gave up six runs at the first ball after being hit squarely by Liam Livingstone. In the end, he conceded 18 runs in the over to relieve some of England’s burden. However, from a South African point of view, the most disappointing over was Baartman’s third over, the 17th.
In an attempt to get a yorker length, he threw down four consecutive full deliveries, which Livingstone twice struck past cover for four before hitting over square leg. His fourth delivery was safely toe-ended, but a full toss at the end of the over handed Brook another four, setting up an exciting finale to the match.
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