Quinton de Kock and Kagiso Rabada impressed as South Africa held on to defeat the United States by 18 runs in an entertaining encounter as the Super 8s began at the T20 World Cup on Wednesday.
Opener De Kock smashed 74 runs from just 40 balls and captain Aiden Markram added 46 for the Proteas as their top order finally fired after enduring a difficult start to the tournament.
Even though Harmeet Singh (2-24) removed De Kock and David Miller (0) in consecutive balls in the 13th over, Heinrich Klaasen (36 not out) and Tristan Stubbs (20no) helped South Africa to a healthy 194-4 in Antigua.
USA fell to 76-5 just after the midway point of their innings as it looked like a chase of 195 would fall flat, but a magnificent partnership of 91 from 43 balls between Andries Gous and Harmeet took USA to within 28 of their target with two overs to spare.
However, Rabada took the crucial wicket of Harmeet for 38 and killed the contest as his 19th over went for that wicket and just two runs, capping a fine bowling display that saw him finish with figures of 3-18 from four overs.
Gous batted on and finished with an impressive unbeaten 80 off 47 balls, but USA fell short as South Africa maintained their 100 per cent record in the competition so far.
Data Debrief: De Kock and Gous impress
After USA won the toss and elected to field before removing Reeza Hendricks (11) in the third over, they sensed an opportunity to seize control.
But De Kock had other ideas, smashing three successive sixes as South Africa scored a huge 28 off the fourth over to seize momentum they did not relinquish from there.
De Kock’s superb innings included five maximums and seven fours until he was finally removed by Harmeet in the 13th over.
As the South Africa star left the field, only three players had recorded a better innings than him in this year's tournament – West Indies' Nicholas Pooran (98), USA's Aaron Jones (94 not out) and Afghanistan batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz (who has had scores of 80 and 76).
But Gous then immediately topped him with an excellent knock of his own, and the American now has the most runs in the tournament with 182, putting him 15 ahead Gurbaz, who is back in action against India on Thursday.
Livingstone lights up Lord's as England level ODI series
England showed their power with the bat and ball as they levelled their ODI series with a 186-run thumping of Australia in a rain-delayed match at Lord's.
Harry Brook, Ben Duckett and a blistering batting display from Liam Livingstone sent England on their way before Matthew Potts starred with the ball in hand.
After a relatively quiet start to the top order that saw Phil Salt (22) and Will Jacks (10) fall early, Brook quickly found his rhythm, cruising to a 37-ball half-century.
Duckett's 63 runs from 62 deliveries, coupled with Brook (87), saw England take control, but the pair were dismissed within eight overs of each other.
However, a late onslaught ensued when Livingstone was welcomed to the crease, notching an unbeaten 62 runs from 27 deliveries, a knock that included seven sixes, four of which came as he took 28 off the last over of the innings from Mitchell Starc.
With England ending on 312-5, Australia started their chase strongly, but the wickets of Mitchell Marsh (28), Travis Head (34) and Steve Smith (five) within four overs started the tourists' collapse.
Australia crumbled from 68-0 to 126 all out in 24.4 overs, with Potts (4-38) doing most of the damage, with Adil Rashid (1-11) sealing the win with the wicket of Josh Hazlewood to force a decider in Bristol on Sunday.
Data Debrief: Livingstone leads comeback
In a game that saw a number of standout performers, Livingstone's display with the bat broke ODI records for matches at Lord's.
The Lancashire spin bowler's 25-ball half-century was the fastest seen at Lord's, while England's 12 sixes is a new record in an ODI encounter at the home of cricket.
The triumph also saw England produce their second-highest winning margin against Australia when batting first in the ODI's, with their 242-run victory at Trent Bridge in 2018 the only game they have won by a larger gap.
Kruger and Rickelton star for South Africa in T20I series opener
South Africa eased to an eight-wicket triumph over Ireland in the first match of their T20I series, with Patrick Kruger and Ryan Rickelton starring for the Proteas.
Kruger's four-wicket haul saw Ireland manage 171 from their overs, with Rickleton's knock of 76 from 48 deliveries giving his side a solid foundation to build on.
The Proteas started strongly as Ross Adair (18), Paul Stirling (two) and Harry Tector (16) fell inside the first six overs through deliveries from Ottniel Baartman (1-36), Wiaan Mulder (1-15) and Bjorn Fortuin (1-28).
Curtis Campher's 49 attempted to steady the ship for Ireland, only for Kruger (4-27) to rip through their middle order, giving his side a manageable target to reach.
South Africa's opening partnership of Reeza Hendricks (51) and Rickelton set the early tone, with the Proteas going 136 runs without loss until Hendricks was dismissed by Craig Young (1-25).
Rickelton's time at the crease came to an end in the following over, but Matthew Breetzke (19) and Aiden Markram (17) were able to guide South Africa home to take a 1-0 series lead ahead of the second T20I on Sunday.
Data Debrief: Rickelton rises to the occasion
Rickelton's knock of 76 was his maiden half-century for the Proteas in T20I's, notching nine boundaries (six sixes and three fours) during his 70-minute stint.
The 28-year-old saw his time at the crease ended by Adair, but left the field at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium with an impressive strike rate of 158.33.
Pollard puts TKR’s up and down season down to injuries; happy with where team is heading into playoffs
Trinbago Knight Riders captain Kieron Pollard is happy with where his team is ahead of the 2024 Caribbean Premier League playoffs set to begin on October 1 in Guyana.
With two games left for them in the preliminary phase of the tournament, the four-time champions have a record of five wins and three losses in their eight games.
“From a performance perspective, we’ve played eight games. Won five, lost three. We’ll take that. The first step in any tournament is to qualify. If we were in fifth place or sixth place it’d be a different conversation. You expect this to happen. It’s T20 cricket,” Pollard said in a press conference on Thursday ahead of their game against the Barbados Royals at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy on Friday.
“Given all the obstacles that we’ve had transpire throughout this season, we’ll take where we are at this particular time. We have an opportunity to finish in the top two. We still have to play good, consistent cricket,” he added.
The major obstacle that Pollard referred to in his comments on Thursday was the number of injuries that have hampered his team’s ability to field their best eleven consistently throughout their eight outings.
“Throughout the entire tournament we’ve been hampered by injuries. We have not mentioned what sort of injuries we’ve had throughout and we’ve had to sort of chop and change. That might’ve caused a lot of discussion amongst fans as to why this one and that one is not playing but we had to battle that,” he said.
Nevertheless, Pollard commended his team for their performance despite the circumstances.
“The way how the guys have battled forward through injuries, coming in at the late stages, we have to commend them for their efforts,” he said.
The Knight Riders and the Royals have met 24 times in the past with the Knight Riders holding a 15-9 edge.
Their last meeting came on September 13 when the Knight Riders won a thriller by two wickets with one ball remaining at the Kensington Oval.
The Knight Riders, currently fourth in the standings with 10 points, could secure a top two spot with wins in their final two games over the Royals and the Guyana Amazon Warriors.
“It’s known in the dressing room what needs to be done and hopefully, all the experience that we have and the exuberance of the youth as well will come forth and we’ll be able to finish the tournament a lot more consistently,” Pollard said.
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