The Proteas’ unbeaten run continues, as they’ve secured an 18-run win against tournament co-hosts USA. However, this game was never short of nervy moments.
Aaron Jones won the toss and opted to bowl first, and the Americans got their first breakthrough in the 3rd over when Reeza Hendricks skied one to mid-off. From then onwards, it was the Quinton de Kock show. The experienced left-hander took down Jessy Singh for 28 runs, and was severe on anything slightly back of a length. Skipper Aiden Markram joined the fun with a few boundaries of his own.
The duo added 110 runs between them, but an economical spell from left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh brought things to an end. In the 13th over, de Kock hit a full-toss straight to wide long-on and departed for a brilliant 74. On the very next delivery, David Miller popped a return catch to the bowler.
It was time for Heinrich Klaasen and Tristan Stubbs to rebuild, and both batters would remain unbeaten after adding 53 in the last 5 overs. However, 4 dots in the penultimate over from Saurabh Netravalkar would forestall any chance of reaching 200.
At halftime, it appeared that SA had more than enough on the board, but Steven Taylor got off to a flier in the first three overs. USA were going at close to the required rate, but Kagiso Rabada pulled his length back and induced a false shot from Taylor. A simple catch for mid-off eased some of the early jitters for SA. Two overs later, Rabada would get his second wicket when Nitish Kumar flicked one high to deep midwicket.
Keshav Maharaj struck in his first over to remove skipper Aaron Jones for a duck, and all of a sudden, the scoring rate quieted down. Corey Anderson hit Anrich Nortje for a big six over cow corner, but the express quick had the last laugh with a yorker the very next ball. Shayan Jahangir came and went, and at 76/5, it was looking pretty bleak for USA.
The game took yet another turn when Harmeet Singh arrived. Both he and Gous started to counterattack, and capitalized on any errors from the seamers or the spinners. The asking rate had reached 17, but a big over from Shamsi brought the equation down to 28 from 12.
What looked to be a straightforward win in the making for SA was now anyone’s game, but for a brief moment. Harmeet flicked a low full toss off Rabada straight to wide long-on, and that would draw the drapes on any lingering hopes for the Americans. Only one more boundary was scored in the remaining deliveries, and the Proteas came up tops by 18 runs.
South African born Andries Gous was the star of the show for Team USA, with a splendid unbeaten 80 from 47 with 5 fours and just as many sixes.
While the end result was favorable for SA, there’s a very high chance that net run rate could be a stern tiebreaker in this group. Team USA have shown they’re no pushovers by any stretch of imagination, but the other teams will target their games against them as possible NRR boosts. Some questionable death bowling brought about additional pressure for SA today, but a sterling performance from Rabada took them to victory.
Stay tuned for England v WI later today. And the next game for the Proteas is on Friday, against England.
SA 194/4 in 20 overs (de Kock 74, Markram 46 – Netravalkar 4-0-21-2, Harmeet 4-0-24-2)
USA 176/6 in 20 overs (Gous 80*, Harmeet 38 – Rabada 4-0-18-3)
