ICC World Twenty20 - South Africa's performance - An Overview - Part I
With teams still assessing their performances in the recently concluded ICC World Twenty20, there is without a doubt one outfit that won’t be able to forget the extravaganza in the near future. South Africa, which are the reigning number-one team in all
the formats of cricket, chocked yet again when it came to becoming the ICC World Twenty20 champions in Sri Lanka.
Being the number-one team among cricketing nations, their performance was nothing more than disappointing as after winning their first two games, they lost the next three, failing to reach the semi-final stage.
After the ICC World Cup 2011, radical changes were introduced in South Africa cricket, where former skipper Graeme Smith, was limited to captaining in Test cricket, while AB de Villiers was named captain of the T20 and ODI squads.
Before the T20 Championship, de Villiers was enjoying a time of his life as it was under his captaincy that the Proteas secured the top spots in T20s and ODIs.
Coming into the tournament with a successful tour of England, everyone was expecting a tough competition from the South Africans. However, what transpired was unexpected and discouraging.
South Africa v Zimbabwe (South Africa won by 10 wickets)
South Africa’s first encounter was against neighbouring minnows Zimbabwe, and the Proteas exhibited their superiority by dominating their opponents throughout the match, securing a 10-wicket win to stamp their arrival in Sri Lanka.
After winning the toss at Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Sooriyawewa, Hambantota, South Africa chose to field first as they wanted to have a clear target for the batsmen to chase later in the day.
And with most teams still acclimating in Sri Lanka, batting first was always a big risk.
The Green boys made inroads in the second over of the day when with just two runs on the board, M Morkel pulverised V Sibanda’s stumps for nil.
With the opener back in the pavilion without scoring, Zimbabwe were on the back foot and before they could recover from this loss, the side saw their second wicket go down with just six runs on the board.
Opener H Masakadza and CR Ervine then took the score to 16 before Masakadza fell with six runs to his name.
CR Ervine was then joined by S Matsikenyeri. This was the last pair that actually tried to sink its claws in a very aggressive South African bowling attack.
However, the partnership met its end with 51 on the board when S Matsikenyeri lost his wicket after scoring 11 runs.
With Ervine still standing, it was a tragic tale at the other end with batsmen getting run over by the South African bowlers. Finally, Zimbabwe succumbed to the South African bowling after posting a meagre total of 93.
Ervine was the highest scoring batsman with 37 runs to his name.
From South Africa, H Kallis, was phenomenal with his tally of four wickets in four overs.
While RE Levi smacked a beautiful half-century, it took HM Amla just 32 runs to win the game for the Proteas in 12.4 overs.
"Very happy with the start. I back our pace bowlers to do well on this kind of deck. Hopefully its the same for the next game. Richard and Hash started really well. We are definitely prepared for whatever the conditions may be. We've improved a lot facing
spin in these conditions, so can't wait to take on what's coming our way," said the South African skipper on his side’s outstanding start.
To be continued ........
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