The Proteas are into the Super 8’s of the ICC T20 World Cup following a narrow 4-run win against Bangladesh in New York.
The Proteas had a bat first and scored 113/6 in their 20-overs with Heinrich Klaasen scoring 46 while David Miller scored 29.
It does remain a big concern for the Proteas that despite the tricky conditions in New York the top-order once again failed with the captain Aiden Markram scoring four, while Tristan Stubbs and Reeza Hendricks both scored ducks. This led to South Africa having to dig in and fight back from reeling at 23/4 after just 4.2-overs.
Tanzim Hasan Sakib took 3/18 in his 4-overs for the Tigers.
In reply, Bangladesh was restricted to 109/7 despite a valiant 37 by Towhid Hridoy and 20 by Mahmudullah.
Keshav Maharaj who took two wickets on the last over was the pick of the South African bowlers with 3/27. While Maharaj took the most wickets, it was really the bowling of Anrich Nortjé that was the game-changer and he took wickets in crucial moments with his 2/17 in 4-overs. That said, the final over of Kagiso Rabada was also a big moment in the game and his breakthrough by trapping Hridoy lbw swung the momentum in favour of South Africa. The seasoned fast bowler finished with 2/19 in his 4-overs.
Klaasen the pitch doesn’t allow for ‘normal’ batting in T20 cricket, but it’s rather case of having to work for each and every single run.
“I think David showed us in the previous game how to bat on this wicket and it’s almost a similar way that we bat in the middle or in a one-day game,” said Klaasen.
“So, our mindset is not even close to T20 cricket. You just want to get in and find a way to bat at a run a ball.
“We know you’re one or two hits away just for going over the run a ball strike rate.
“I saw India and Pakistan yesterday – even two great teams – they struggled to get to 120. So that just means that we have to change our mindset completely.
“You can’t just stand there and smack it all over the park. So, we had more or less of a one-day mindset today.
“So, myself and David in the middle, and that seemed to be working. And then the last three overs, we looked to take the game on a little bit more T20 style.”
The Proteas now head to St Vincent in the West Indies where they will face Nepal on Saturday.
Morgan Piek
