At Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet, St. Lucia on June 22, South Africa registered its second consecutive win in the Super 8, Group 2 match of the T20 World Cup 2024. With this victory against England by 7 runs, South Africa tops the Group 2 points table of Super Eights.
In the first innings, South Africa was batting and put forth a target of 163/6.
England was later given tough time while chasing the target. Phil Salt was dismissed by Kagiso Rabada in the second over. For first 10 overs, Proteas bowlers and fielders tightened the noose around English batsmen, dismissing Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow while they tried big shots leaving England at 54/3.
Harry Brook and Livingstone built a partnership after 13th over. And in the last overs, they almost neared the target at 150/6. But Rabada took Livingstone in 18th over and Brook fell to Aiden Markram’s catch in the last over bowled by Nortje.
Though England tried hard to grab the target, still lost by 7 runs to South Africa.
Earlier in South Africa, it was Quinton de Kock who single-handedly contributed a significant amount to the score. Hitting the second consecutive half-century in just 22 balls, De Kock was the player of the match. With his opening partner, Reeza Hendricks, they produced 86 runs in 59 balls. David Miller later supported with significant 43 runs, and Proteas put a decent target of 163/6.
Is It Too Soon To Say South Africa’s Time Has Come?
Victory against England also meant South Africa is continuing its winning streak in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024. It is the 6th consecutive triumph of Proteas. This winning streak came long after South Africa’s previous five successive wins back in 2009 edition. Interestingly, they had reached semi-final in that season.
Earlier in the group stage match, South Africa bashed Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Bangladesh, and Nepal. First Proteas defeated Sri Lanka by 6 wickets and spared 22 balls. Second group stage match put them across Netherlands which they won by 4 wickets. Third group stage clashed them with Bangladesh, which they won by 4 runs. And in the fourth group stage match, South Africa beat Nepal by 1 run.
Also when it entered the Super Eights, South Africa embarked as victorious in the very first match against United States. Winning the second match against England, continued the Proteas dominance in the tournament.
In the next Super Eight fixture, South Africa will be locking horns with West Indies, on June 24.
Tabinda Mir is a writer from Kashmir. She is an English Honours graduate and her interests primarily dwell in poetry and sports writing. She likes to cover Cricket as an avid fan. Apart from sports, her other publications include articles, poems and a letter to summer in the book titled, “Under The Summer Skies”.
Also, her leisure time activities include reading novels, poetry, non literary works, philosophies and writing poetry, short stories, articles on diverse themes.
