A sensational bowling showcase, spearheaded by Anrich Nortje, and a composed batting performance aided South Africa in clinching a six-wicket win over Sri Lanka in their opening clash of the 2024 T20 World Cup in New York today.
Complete and utter humiliation: the only words needed to describe Sri Lanka’s abysmal outing with the bat in their opening match against South Africa.
A slow start, turned into a horrendous nightmare, as Sri Lankan batters could never settle in and find a breakthrough.
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With a new captain leading the side, one might have thought that they would look to make a fresh start but it was a calamitous performance for the Lankan side who managed to register a score of just 77 runs.
This made it the lowest score posted by a Sri Lankan side in T20 Internationals as a whole and is also obviously the lowest total posted by them in T20 World Cup history.
After scoring a mere 24 runs in the first five overs, SL would only go on to suffer at the hands of the South African bowlers, who would claim four more wickets within the next five overs, to leave a rudderless Sri Lanka at 40/5 at the halfway mark.
Every bowler shone with the ball today, but none were brighter than returning pacer Anrich Nortje, who obliterated the Sri Lankan batting ranks.
Nortje would go on to register a spell of 4/7 in 4 overs, the best-ever figures registered by a Protean pacer in the T20 World Cup.
A glimmer of hope snuck through with veteran Angelo Mathews, who put up 16 runs, but it was too little too late, as SL were bowled out for an abysmal 77 runs, their lowest-ever total in the T20 World Cup.
The Lankans needed a miracle in order to salvage their outing, but the South Africans were in no mood to even entertain such a thought.
Nuwan Thushara found an early breakthrough, scalping Reeza Hendricks in his first over. But, this would only introduce him to skipper Aiden Markram who came out to attack the SL bowlers with patience and style.
But right when it seemed like the skipper was settled in, Shanaka was introduced to the attack and instantly scalped Markram, providing yet another breath of hope for the Lankans.
Despite one’s expectations for SA and their batting order to blitz through to an easy win, the Proteas took it slow and calm as they picked out their moments to accelerate the innings, coupled with prolonged periods of defensive play.
de Kock and Stubbs persisted till the halfway mark, when SL skipper Hasaranga came into the attack and scalped de Kock in his first over, as South Africa were being drawn out longer than they would have preferred.
And Hasaranga’s impact wouldn’t end there as in his next over, he would tempt Stubbs to clobber one straight into the hands of Asalanka, as South Africa were pushed to 58/4 in 13 overs.
But, all of South Africa’s worries would be put to rest with a calm and composed blitz from Heinrich Klaasen, who would wrap up the game in the 17th over, and clinch South Africa the win.
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