T20 World Cup 39th Match: Determined South Africa Deny England Clean Sweep, Win By 10 Runs
South African bowlers held their nerve and in the end were able to beat one of the best teams in this tournament - England, by 10 runs. Kagiso Rabada, who was smashed for 3 back-to-back sixes in the 16th over, did a hattrick in the ultimate over and took his team to victory. For South Africa, Rabada picked up 3 wickets, while Dwaine Pretorius and Tabraiz Shamsi picked up 2 wickets each. Anrich Nortje also picked up a wicket.
England started off well and look in total control of the game. Openers - Jason Roy & Jos Buttler provided a partnership of 58 runs in 5.3 overs. But then, other batters failed to stay at the crease long enough. Roy scored 20 off 15 with 4 fours while Buttler scored 26 off 15 balls 3 fours & 1 six.
Moeen Ali held the crease for a while for his 37 runs off 27 balls with 3 fours & 2 sixes. Malan also scored 33 off 26 and Livingstone scored 28 off 17 but in the end it wasn't enough as South Africa ended their tournament on a high note. For South Africa, the game went in too far and are now behind Australia on NRR but have won the hearts of the cricketing world, who didn't even think of South Africa making it this close, winning 4 out of 5 Super 12 matches.
In the first innings, South African batters displayed an explosive display of batting as they posted 188/2 against England. For South Africa, top scorer was Rassie van der Dussen who scored 94* off 60 balls with 5 fours & 6 sixes. While Aiden Markram scored 52 off 25 balls with 2 fours & 4 sixes.
Wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock also scored 34 runs off 27 balls with 4 fours and constructed a partnership of 71 runs with van der Dussen. For
England, spinners Adil Rashid & Moeen Ali were able to pick a wicket each. South Africa needed to stop England below a score of 131 if they wanted to make their NRR better than Australia's and qualify for the semi-finals.
Earlier, England captain Eoin Morgan won the toss & opted to bowl first against South Africa in the 39th match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021. This match is being played at Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah.
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