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South Africa are through to the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup after a nail-biting three-wicket win in their must-win clash against the West Indies.
With the winner to join England in the final four, the Proteas looked set to cruise to victory when they needed 37 off the last eight overs to reach a revised target of 123 due to an earlier rain delay in St Lucia.
But Windies all-rounder Roston Chase, who had been a lone hand with the bat earlier with a half-century, struck three times in three overs to remove set batters David Miller and Tristan Stubbs as well as hard-hitting tailender Keshav Maharaj, South Africa seemed on the brink of their most spectacular choke yet.
Needing 13 off the last 10 balls when Maharaj holed out, the pro-West Indies home crowd sensed a famous victory; but Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada would hold their nerves, the latter nailing a crucial boundary through cover off Chase’s final ball and the former sealing victory with a straight six off Obed McCoy to begin the final over.
The hosts will be left to rue a poor finish to their innings with the bat, slumping from 2/86 late in the 12th over to 8/135 by the close thanks to inspired spells from first spinner Tabraiz Shamsi (4/27) and then Rabada (1/11), who waited until the 18th over to be given the ball by captain Aiden Markram but bowled superbly at the death regardless.
The tense victory sees the Proteas remain undefeated after seven matches at the World Cup, having defied their ‘chokers’ tag with a string of narrow victories.
Thus far, in addition to their West Indies escape, they defeated England by seven runs and the USA by 18 in the Super 8s stage, while they edged lowly Nepal by a solitary run in a final-ball thriller to end their group stage, following a four-run win over Bangladesh and four-wicket win, with just seven balls remaining, against the Netherlands.
Nevertheless, they will go through as the top seed from their group, and will face whoever out of Australia, India and Afghanistan finish second in theirs.
Earlier, quick Chris Jordan fired England into the semi-finals with an emotional hat-trick in a thumping 10-wicket victory over the United States on his home island of Barbados.
Chris Jordan is congratulated by Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali after dismissing Saurabh Netravalkar. (Photo by Philip Brown/Getty Images)
Jordan, a born-and-bred Bajan who went to school with pop star Rihanna just a 10-minute drive away from Bridgetown’s Kensington Oval, brought the house down at his old stamping ground on Sunday as he recorded the first ever T20 hat-trick for the England men’s team.
His performance followed Australian star Pat Cummins’ remarkable achievement of two hat-tricks in successive games against Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Jordan’s efforts opened the door for the reigning champions to take their fate into their own hands, with openers Jos Buttler and Phil Salt sealing the deal amid a flurry of sixes as they chased down 116 in just 9.4 overs.
The win guaranteed the holders would make the final four but despite Buttler’s best efforts – and his staggering knock of 83no from just 38 balls was a bravura attempt to steal the limelight – the match will be remembered for Jordan’s four wickets in five balls in a brilliant penultimate over.
Starting with former New Zealand international Corey Anderson before rounding up Ali Khan, Nosthush Kenjige and Saurabh Netravalkar in successive balls, his haul reduced USA from 5-115 to 115 all out in the blink of an eye, with the 35-year-old also claiming a fine catch off the last ball of the Sam Curran over before his heroics.
That left England with a clear path into the final four – knowing victory in 17.4 overs would make them safe regardless of events elsewhere.
Buttler showed his intent early on with an outrageous 104-metre bomb that landed on the roof of the Worrell, Weekes and Walcott Stand.
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He went on to smash seven sixes in total, including five in a row – separated only by a wide – off the punch-drunk Harmeet Singh, as well as six fours in a blistering assault.
His opening partner Salt, who also spent part of his childhood in Barbados and was in the ground when England won this competition in 2010, played the supporting role with an unbeaten 25 from 21 balls.
It was an unforgiving performance in the first meeting between these nations and one that marks England out as a force to be reckoned with at the business end of the competition after they had suffered an early group-stage loss to Australia.
Adil Rashid also starred, pegging back the USA after they’d got to 2-48 after the powerplay.
Rashid served up four masterful overs for 2-13, with Nitish Kumar and Aaron Jones bamboozled by rip-roaring googlies.
There were two more wickets for Curran and one apiece for Reece Topley and Liam Livingstone, who bowled a rare four-over spell.
England must now wait another 24 hours to find out who they will meet in the last four.
(with AAP)
© AAP
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