On Monday, South Africa leveraged their available bounce to secure a six-wicket victory over Sri Lanka after Anrich Nortje dismantled them with career-best bowling figures 4/7 during their opening match of the T20 World Cup.
Sri Lanka’s choice to bat first at this venue, where three out of India’s four league matches in Group A will be played, spectacularly backfired.
In terms of bowling attack, Nortje (4/7), Kagiso Rabada (2/21) and Keshav Maharaj (2/22) were outstanding as they made Sri Lanka to collapse for 77 runs in 19.1 overs and that is their lowest ever total in T20 cricket history.
But it was not smooth sailing for South Africa in the challenging conditions at Nassau Stadium. The Proteas had a tough start after they lost two wickets inside the first powerplay taking their score to 27/2.
Wanindu Hasaranga was leading the Lankan bowling attack which took two wickets off three overs, getting rid of Quinton de Kock(20) and Tristan Stubbs(13).
However, South Africa did not have much trouble chasing down the target spend just 16.2 overs on it hence improving significantly on net run rate.
The group D table is led by South Africa who have earned two points with a Net Run Rate (NRR) of +1.048 followed by Bangladesh, Nepal and Netherlands
The batsman smashed Hasaranga for a huge six over long-on before collecting another boundary straight over for eleven runs which was enough to seal the game with five overs left.Heinrich Klaasen continued his fine form throughout day against Wanindu Hasarange hitting him for one gigantic one over long on and then straight ones amounting to eleven runs ultimately ending any chances his opponents may have had winning the match.
With an away swinger, Nuwan Thushara drew Reeza Hendricks’ outside edge and took the first wicket for Sri Lanka in his second over.
Even the south African skipper developed an awkward relationship with Angelo Mathews who was hit by a ball on his abdomen that required medical attention. A few balls later the tension broke when Markram fired a six through covers but it was short-lived as he was caught at slip by Dasun Shanaka off Kamindu Mendis.
Nortje went past 4/10 which were also his previous best T20 figures as he bowled at express speed and control.
Keshav Maharaj finished with 2/22 while Kagiso Rabada returned 2/21 looking to be in good shape considering the conditions.
The drop-in pitch at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium proved to be a nightmare for the Sri Lankan batters who had a hard time getting their timing right due to a slow outfield as well.
However, this worked out very well for the Proteas attack when Ottneil Baartman who made his world cup debut picked up a wicket off his very first ball, eventually finishing with flattering score line of 1/9. The novice seam bowler banged one down outside off from full length swinging away and bouncing back into Pathum Nissanka (3).
In just eight overs, Kamindu Mendis mistimed pull shot leading to Nortje claiming another scalp which saw Sri Lanka drop to 31/2.
Maharaj bagged two wickets in two deliveries in dismissals of Wanindu Hasaranga followed by Sadeera Samarawickrama showing support towards spin bowlers,
At half time mark, exactly four batsmen including Kusal Mendis after missing out on pulling off mis-hits ended up back in pavilion courtesy of Anrich Nortje’s second wicket.
Angelo Mathews, the most successful Sri Lanka batsman, scored 16 runs in 16 balls before Nortje took him to claim his fourth wicket.
Nuwan Thushara was run out as Sri Lanka came to a close off the last ball of their innings.
