South Africa beat US by 18 runs in T20 World Cup Super 8 match

Team of South Africa defeated the United States by 18 runs in their T20 World Cup Super 8 match which was played at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, on Wednesday.

The Proteas managed to defend the 195-run target with Kagiso Rabada starring for the winning side with his spell of 3/18 in four overs.

Chasing the target, the USA had a good start with Steven Taylor leading the attack against the Proteas’ pacers but Rabada gave his team the first breakthrough by removing the left-handed batter on just 24 runs.

Following Taylor’s dismissal, the USA lost wickets at regular intervals with Nitish Kumar (8), skipper Aaron Jones (0), Corey Anderson (2) and Shayan Jahangir (3) all walking back to the pavilion without scoring big runs.

It looked nearly impossible for the USA to get back in the game but Andries Gous and Harmeet Singh’s 91-run target made things difficult for the Proteas as, at one point, the USA required 28 runs from 12 balls.

However, Rabada took the ball in the 19th over and, once again, eased his side’s worries by removing Harmeet on the first ball which halted the USA’s attack. With Harmeet (38 off 22) gone, things got difficult for USA and they eventually concluded their innings at 176-6 in 20 overs. Gous scored 80 off 47 with the help of 10 boundaries.

Earlier, South Africa posted a 195-run target for the United States in their T20 World Cup Super 8 match which is being played at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, on Wednesday.

South Africa didn’t have the brightest start after being asked to bat first as Reeza Hendricks continued his bad form and returned to the pavilion after just scoring 11 runs, leaving his side 16-1 in 2.4 overs.

However, the Proteas recovered quickly after losing one wicket as Quinton de Kock decided to take charge of their innings and played his best knock of the tournament by scoring 74 runs on 40 balls with the help of seven fours and five sixes.

The 110-run partnership between skipper Aiden Markram and De Kock helped the Proteas get in the driving seat. Following the wicketkeeper batter’s dismissal, South Africa lost wickets in quick succession with David Miller (0), and Markram (46) returning to the pavilion.

Heinrich Klaasen (36 off 22) and Tristan Stubbs (20 off 16) stayed till the end and helped South Africa conclude their innings at 194-4 in the allocated overs.

Earlier, US won the toss and opted to bowl first against South Africa in the T20 World Cup 2024 match.

USA's captain Aaron Jones confirmed that the team will be going with an extra spinner considering that the conditions may not be much different from Dallas.

"We're going to go with the extra spinner," Jones said. "I don't think it's going to be too different to Dallas."

Parallel to this, South Africa's captain Aiden Markram was unsure about what he would have done if he had won the toss.

"We weren't sure what to do," Markram admitted. "We would also have leaned towards bowling but we're not too bothered with the result of the toss."

Playing XIs

South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram (c), Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi

USA: Steven Taylor, Shayan Jahangir, Andries Gous (wk), Aaron Jones (c), Nitish Kumar, Corey Anderson, Harmeet Singh, Jasdeep Singh, Nosthush Kenjige, Ali Khan, Saurabh Netravalkar

As they won all of their group matches, the Proteas, led by Markram are definitely high on confidence. Having played all of their matches in the USA, South Africa are stranger to the Caribbean conditions — unlike other Super 8 sides like West Indies, Afghanistan, Australia, and England.

Their bowling has been spectacular, with the likes of Anrich Nortje and Marco Jense all starring with the ball but the same would be required from their batting unit today. Reeza Hendricks, Markram, and Quinton de Kock have all struggled in the T20 World Cup so far.

Moreover, it has been a fairytale journey for the USA. With an emphatic win over Canada where they chased down the massive 195-run target in 17.4 overs, they began their World Cup campaign. They went on to upset Pakistan after a thrilling Super Over while their match against Ireland was washed out following a defeat against India.