Pakistan and New Zealand were the big casualties from the first round of the T20 World Cup but, while the USA were surprise qualifiers for the Super Eight round having beaten Pakistan, nobody should be surprised to see Afghanistan there.
Australia and South Africa both won all four games but their form could hardly be more different with the Proteas staggering to undeserved wins against both Bangladesh and Nepal. Unless they are given credit for invoking the gasping chokes which cost both teams victory.
Like most of the eight teams remaining, the Proteas now play three games in five days starting with the USA in Antigua on Wednesday before flying to St.Lucia to play defending champions England on Friday and returning to Antigua for co-hosts West Indies on Sunday.
The low-scoring, tactical cricket on slow pitches throughout most of the Group Stage wasn’t to everyone’s taste but it was certainly absorbing. South Africa must surely play two spinners in the next round, including Tabraiz Shamsi alongside Keshav Maharaj. But who to leave out? Anrich Nortje, Ottneil Baartman and Kagiso Rabada have been an outstanding pace trio so far and Marco Jansen’s all round skills are indispensable.
But it is the top order batting which has been the problem – a significant improvement is required if SA are to progress to the semifinals and beyond.
Top player: Shakib al Hasan was anonymous in Bangladesh’s first two games, virtually disappearing in the match against South Africa which his team should have won. But with qualification on the line against the Netherlands, he roared back for 64* from 46 balls to engineer the win and then also top-scored in the 21-run victory against Nepal (albeit with just 17.)
Tanzim Hasan Sakib tears through the batting order of Nepal with a fiery spell of 4/7 🔥🇧🇩
— Bangladesh Cricket (@BCBtigers) June 17, 2024
Photo Credit: ICC/Getty#BCB #Cricket #BANvNEP #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/MUQYmxmOqG
Top bowler: Adil Rashid claimed 4-11 as England bowled lowly Oman out for just 40 allowing Jos Buttler (24* off eight balls) to charge the target down in a T20 WC record of 3.2 overs. England needed a thrashing win to have a chance of progressing but it’s not always easy beating outclassed opposition quickly.
It might be an election year, but there's only one King of Spin 👑#EnglandCricket | @CricViz pic.twitter.com/GCCDo4oaUZ
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 15, 2024
Top batter: Brandon McMullen, Durban-born and Hilton College educated, the talented allrounder shone bright for his adopted Scotland as they rampaged to a target of 151 against Oman in just 13.1 overs McMullen monstering an unbeaten 61 from just 31 balls with nine fours and two sixes. He was at it again a couple of days later with 60 from 34 balls against Australia as they wracked up 180-5 and almost upset the odds.
Outstanding team: Afghanistan were always going to be a threat but they annihilated New Zealand by 84 runs after bowling them out for just 75 and have, finally, shrugged off the ‘plucky underdogs’ and ‘impressive outsider’ tags with a storming run to the Super Eights. Quality spinners and a powerful, reliable top order. None of the favourites will fancy playing them – if they aren’t among the favourites themselves.
Top SA player: This may be a strange call given South Africa’s embarrassing performance against Nepal in which they somehow ‘burgled’ a one-run win, but the man responsible for the robbery was captain Aiden Markram. The unheralded minnows required just 34 from 42 balls with eight wickets in hand when Markram had his first bowl of the tournament and took 1-8 in two overs. The rest fell into place, with a lot of luck.
Best match: South Africa v Bangladesh. If low-scoring thrillers aren’t your thing then you’ll disagree, but the value of runs – even singles – was never higher and it was a pleasant change not to see batsmen having everything their own way. Bangladesh needed 20 off the last three overs. Kagiso Rabada invoked a choke and SA scraped home by four runs.
Nerves of steel 🥶
— Pretoria Capitals (@PretoriaCapsSA) June 10, 2024
Keshav Maharaj and Kagiso Rabada with their impeccable death bowling helped Proteas defend the lowest-ever total in the competition's history 🇿🇦 🙌#SAvBAN #T20WorldCup2024 pic.twitter.com/h8tKZQApr9
Best individual performance: Having narrowly avoided a third consecutive World Cup humiliation by the Netherlands, and then dodging a ‘sure’ bullet against Bangladesh, South Africa were facing a ‘certain’ embarrassment by Nepal – and would undoubtedly have done so without the last-gasp 27 (18 balls) from Tristan Stubbs which dragged the Proteas to a barely respectable total of 115-7.
Top Talking Point: Josh Hazlewood’s suggestion that Australia might “go easy” on Scotland in their final group game in order to eliminate England on net run-rate refuses to go away. His new ball mate, Mitchell Starc, said after his country had beaten Scotland by five-wickets with just two balls to spare: “That was a comment blown out of all proportion by you guys.” Hazlewood’s comment was, in fact, an admission that Australia were open to match-fixing. The media didn’t need to alter the proportions of that.
Quote of the week: “This is a new low point for Pakistan cricket, it doesn’t get any lower than this.” – Pakistan allrounder, Imad Wasim.
“We've let the entire nation down and we are really sorry because we've let ourselves down. We never expected this,” Sri Lankan allrounder, Angelo Matthews.
Early elimination is not easy to swallow for the test playing nations.
What to look out for: The USA play South Africa in their first Super Eight match in Antigua on Wednesday. It really should be a straightforward result but the co-hosts have already beaten and eliminated Pakistan and South Africa have under-performed in every game, somehow escaping defeat against Bangladesh and Nepal, both games they should have lost. Is another upset on the cards?
