South Africa Secures Semi-Final Spot with Thrilling Victory Over West Indies in T20 World Cup
South Africa overcame a match that was shortened by rain in the course of eliminating co-hosts West Indies and securing a spot in the men’s T20 World Cup 2024 semifinals.
They’ve completed (nearly) everything now. In order to secure a berth in the men’s T20 World Cup 2024 semi-final, South Africa had to overcome a difficult objective and withstand a rain-shortened encounter. This came after an undefeated run of six games, five of which were much too close for comfort.
West Indies 135 for 8 (Chase 52, Mayers 35, Shamsi 3-27) lost to South Africa 124 for 7 (Stubbs 29, Klaasen 22, Jansen 21*, Chase 3-12) by three wickets via DLS Method.
They eliminated co-hosts West Indies in the process, and as they won their Super Eight group, they also have a good chance of avoiding India in the championship game. Once more, are we missing the mark?
Everything suggests that things are about to get better for a team that has long yearned for and been denied an ICC title. Like their rugby counterparts, the Springboks, who won the quarterfinals, semifinals, and final last year, all by one point, South Africa is currently winning games that they should be losing and overcoming adversity. For the first time in ten years, they have reached the T20 World Cup knockout stage thanks to their newly discovered tenacity.
Coincidentally, Aiden Markram had just guided the Under-19 team to the World Cup when they reached the 2014 tournament’s final four. He is currently captaining the senior team, and he is succeeding greatly despite doing things differently. In this match, Markram grabbed the new ball and bowled himself for the entire four overs allotted to him. He made the choice to depend on spin, an unconventional strength.
This was the most spin overs South Africa had ever bowled in a T20 World Cup match (they had only bowled more twice, against Sri Lanka in 2021). The tactic shift proved to be effective. In 12 overs, South Africa’s spinners combined to take 5 for 79.
They were mostly in charge of keeping West Indies quiet and for a number of the 57 dot balls that the team faced during their innings, which is the highest number of dot balls at this T20 World Cup and equal to 9.3 overs. West Indies were only able to stay in the game because to an 81-run partnership between Kyle Mayers and Roston Chase, who were the only two batsmen to record an individual score of more than 15.
When the tears stop flowing, West Indies will realize that their batting was a big part of why they couldn’t move further. Before the rain struck, their bowlers used all they had to get South Africa to 15 for 2 in two overs. They persisted and eliminated every batter who was identified. South Africa was constantly on edge thanks to Chase’s 3 for 12 and Joseph’s 2 for 25, but at seven down, Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen won it.
In a thrilling opening ten overs, South Africa missed four catches and Markram became the second spinner in history to bowl four straight overs after taking the first wicket in a men’s T20I—and that too with two specialist spinners in the starting XI. Markram took a wicket with his first ball after sharing the new ball with Jansen, and South Africa won the first exchanges against the West Indies 5 for 2.
Also Read: T20 World Cup Winners List from 2007 to 2023
In the following over from Jansen, they ought to have had a third when Chase, on 12, stole the ball across the line and struck it straight up. Anrich Nortje went under it with all the time in the world, but he was unable to hang on. After Chase scored eight more runs, he slog-swept Keshav Maharaj to deep midwicket, where David Miller was unable to keep up with the flying ball and the wind, allowing a challenging opportunity to be lost.
Then, on 13, Mayers swooped to Maharaj at square leg, and he put it down. The worst of it all, visually speaking, was when Rabada and Jansen collided after Mayers struck Markram down the field and they failed to call each other. After being forced off the field, Jansen came back, and Markram finished with 1 for 28 in his four overs. Rabada was not used by Markram until the 18th over, which is the latest he has ever bowled in this format due to the effectiveness of South Africa’s spinners.
Rabada bowled in the first four overs in 61 previous T20Is, and he has played 62 T20Is prior to this one. His most recent bowling effort came in the fifth over of a 2021 match against the West Indies. In the eleventh over of the IPL 2021, he was inserted after the halfway point the previous time.
Even though this was different, he nevertheless made an almost instantaneous impression. Rabada could only dab at short third on his first delivery to Akeal Hosein since he had seen enough to know that pace off was the best option. Andre Russell and Hosein sprinted, but Anrich Nortje caught up and threw more quickly, forcing Russell to be run out.
Rabada grabbed a straightforward catch when Hosein hit a cutter back to him later in the over. He gave up just one run in his opening over, preventing the West Indies from making a late push. He finished with an 11-run over to limit the West Indies to 135 runs.
Indeed, you did. And it succeeded. Russell got possession of the new ball after Quinton de Kock scored 12 runs in the first over to start the chase. With his first delivery, he strangled Reeza Hendricks down the leg side; however, Sherfane Rutherford caught de Kock well at deep backward square, and the decision had to be reviewed and overturned after Snicko confirmed the edge. However, the early tension did not end there.
After that was over, the sky parted, bringing with it recollections of a powerful downpour. Rain ruined matches in 1992, 2003, 2015, and many more that South Africans would rather forget. The aim was lowered to 123 after three overs were lost during the 75-minute delay.
We all know that T20 matches can alter in the course of an over, but this is especially true when there is less rain. When Heinrich Klaasen faced Gudakesh Motie and broke the back of the chase, he provided the pivotal play that changed the direction of the game and put South Africa on the winning path.
Though it was hazardous, Klaasen blasted Motie’s first ball into the stands and the final three for consecutive fours. With South Africa needing 53 runs in 10 overs, he remained on the back foot and hit Motie aerially towards Chase, who was unable to reach the opportunity despite a full-stretched dive at backward point. He then glanced him past short fine and edged it past Nicholas Pooran to send South Africa to the semi-finals.
