South Africa on Wednesday had to work hard to earn an 18-run win over the fast-improving US in the opening game of the Super Eight at the T20 World Cup.
Cohosts the West Indies also lost their first match in the Super Eight stage, beaten by eight wickets by defending champions England. Jack Salt scored 87 runs to lead England.
Andries Gous made an unbeaten 80 off 47 deliveries for the US — against the country of his birth — to move atop the batting charts at the World Cup before South Africa restricted the US to 176-6.
Photo: AFP
Fast bowler Kagiso Rabada claimed 3-18 and spinner Keshav Maharaj got the prized wicket of US captain Aaron Jones for a duck to finish with 1-24.
Quinton de Kock had earlier made 74 off 40 balls, while Heinrich Klaasen provided the perfect finish with 36 not out in the South Africa total of 194-4 after Jones won the toss and elected to field.
“Pretty happy with the performance as a whole,” South Africa captain Aiden Markram said. “A couple of overs here and there we need to tidy up ... but the wicket definitely changes and gets a bit slower.”
Photo: AFP
De Kock and Markram (46 off 32) dominated the spinners and the pacers as they raised a solid 110-run stand after Saurabh Netravalkar (2-21) had provided the early breakthrough by getting the wicket of Reeza Hendricks in his second over.
“We’ve had some tricky wickets, so it was nice to spend some time in the middle today,” De Kock said. “The USA put us under pressure towards the end. It was a great game.”
Netravalkar, who bowled a sensational super over in the US’ historic win over heavyweights Pakistan in the group stage, struck immediately in his return spell when Markram was brilliantly caught by diving Ali Khan at deep backward-point off a full-pitched ball.
However, Klaasen used all his T20 experience in the last five overs and struck three sixes, while Tristan Stubbs also hit two fours in his 16-ball unbeaten 20.
“Hard to take a defeat after coming so close,” Jones said. “We did lack discipline in the bowling at times, [but] once we play good cricket we can beat any team in the world. We need to be a lot more disciplined.”
In Gros Islet, St Lucia, Salt carried his bat for 87 and Jonny Bairstow made an unbeaten 48 as England beat the Windies by eight wickets in a match between the two two-time World Cup champions.
It was the West Indies’ first loss of the tournament and their first defeat in eight T20 internationals.
The West Indies made 180-4 batting first on the same pitch on which they made 218-5 against Afghanistan in the final match of the group stage on Monday.
The fireworks came at the end and from England as Salt made his 87 runs from 47 balls with seven fours and five sixes, and Bairstow added his 48 from 26 deliveries. England reached 181-2 with 15 balls to spare.
Rugby organizers in Taiwan hope that a tournament in Singapore next week would be the catalyst to boost the sport in the nation. However, with a team of mostly university students up against more experienced players from their two opponents, Taiwan face a stern challenge at the first edition of the Unions Cup. Taiwan coach Huang Chi-hsang at a training session at the University of Taipei yesterday said that the other two teams — Singapore and Thailand — can draw on a wider pool of players, including those with overseas experience. Taiwan captain Chien Tzu-fan is one of the older hands on the
The New Taipei Kings on Thursday captured the 2023-2024 P.League+ title after defeating the Taoyuan Pauian Pilots 103-97 in overtime. The win gave the Kings a 4-1 victory in the best-of-seven series and their first championship in the league that began in the 2020-2021 season. The Kings made the P.League+ Finals last year, but lost 4-2 to the Taipei Fubon Braves, who won the league’s first three championship series. Facing an elimination game at home, the Pilots went for broke, including Treveon Graham in the starting five along with the league’s regular-season Most Valuable Player Lu Chun-hsiang and Import Player of the Year
KING OF QUEEN’S: In London, Tommy Paul became the first US player to win the Queen’s Club Wimbledon warm-up since Sam Querrey in 2010 Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium on Sunday claimed the Rothesay Classic doubles title in Birmingham, England, while Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva won her first senior grass-court women’s singles title. Top seeds and reigning Australian Open champions Hsieh and Mertens defeated Zhang Shuai of China and Miyu Kato of Japan 6-1, 6-3 at the Edgbaston Priory Club in 59 minutes. “I’ve already played two doubles finals here and I lost all of them, so I’m very happy to win this one,” Mertens told the Lawn Tennis Association Web site. “Birmingham is of course very important in the lead up to Wimbledon,
Four of the P.League+’s six teams and all five of the T1 League’s clubs have signed a letter of intent to join a proposed new basketball league, New Taipei Kings chairman Walter Wang said on Saturday. The planned league of at least 10 teams would include the Kings, which Wang founded, and one from Southeast Asia, he told a news conference in New Taipei City. It is time to take professional basketball in Taiwan to the next level by forming a new league, he said, adding that he has been in discussions with many team owners and was working to convince the