Where there is a will, there is a way! South Africa has finally paved their way to the finals of ICC T20 World Cup, happening in Caribbean, this year. Beating teams like West Indies and Afghanistan the Proteas will be playing its first final world cup match.
The match happened at today morning at the pitch of Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad and Tobago, where the South African men won by the difference of nine wickets from the Afghanis.
South Africa Proteas made 60 runs, whereas the team Afghanistan made only 56 runs and lost their chance to enter into the finals. Marco Jansen of South Africa became the Man of the Match and set the tone with his for 3 for 16, in the match.
Jansen expressed that it is an awesome feeling. The guys played really well and they executed perfectly. He added that it was about sticking to their plan and then seeing how the wicket reacts. According to him, the wicket was giving them something to work with and so tried to keep it simple and bowl in the right areas.
Reportedly, Afghanistan won the toss and opted for bating, giving the target of 57 runs to South Africa. Openers Quinton de Kock and Reeza Hendricks appeared on the pitch and made 34 runs in partnership. Then captain Aiden Markram replaced Quinton de Kock (who was bowled by the bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi of Afghanistan) and made 23 runs in total. Hendricks and Markram made partnership of 50 runs.
The South Africa players looked fully focused on the challenge that lied ahead and made a potential place in their first World Cup final.
The pitch of the stadium used to play the match remained the hot topic and became the talk of the town. Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting said on the ICC commentary that it seems strange to use a brand-new wicket for a semi-final as they have only had a week and a half to prepare for this match.
He pointed that with the variation in bounce that they were seeing there, he said that he was not sure that he’d be using this as the time to experiment with a new pitch.
Ponting also looked at the pitch and claimed that there is a lot of crust cracks and there’s lot of thatch grass inside the cracks, so there could be some uneven bounce.
South Africa will be playing its final match on Saturday, June 29, 2024 at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown in Barbados with the winning team of the next semi-final match that is will be played between India and England, today evening at the Providence Stadium in Guyana.
