Key events
Harmeet Singh is on a hat-trick!
WICKET! de Kock c Shayan Jahangir b Harmeet Singh (South Africa 126-3)
A full toss from Harmeet Singh is smeared into the wind by de Kock but doesn’t have the legs to clear the fence! Phewf. USA needed that.
12th over: South Africa 125-1 (de Kock 74, Markram 35) Corey Anderson goes for the yorker but misses it by a fraction, enough for de Kock to crack his wrists on it and deposit the ball into the stand at cow corner. Some shot that. Gah – a full bunger is not what the USA needed – de Kock’s eyes light up as he finds the gap between point and third. Another boundary. QdK is flying – a lap over the keeper’s head for another four makes it seventeen runs off the over.
11th over: South Africa 108-1 (de Kock 59, Markram 33) Markram slashes Harmeet for four through point. USA need to break this partnership. Searing insight but it’s the truth. Seven off the over, Corey Anderson is coming on to bowl.
10th over: South Africa 101-1 (de Kock 58, Markram 27) Eight off the over, South Africa well placed at the halfway stage. Time for a quick slurp of something luminous (for the players).
9th over: South Africa 93-1 (de Kock 52, Markram 26) “Why does Quinton de Kock always look like he’s just received bad news about his cat?” Asks Gary Naylor, which admittedly induces a snort.
I can’t see his expression currently under his lid but he is now motoring – fifty up off 30 odd balls as South Africa take ten off the over. Maybe the flicker of a smile lurking under the helmet. The Proteas laying a solid foundation here in Antigua.
8th over: South Africa 83-1 (de Kock 45, Markram 24) Stephen Taylor into the attack and Aidan Markram comes to the party. Slamming a SIX over long on and reversing handsomely for four more. Fourteen runs off the over as the partnership grows and grows.
More jangly number eight stuff sent in courtesy of James Rennie. It’s only Wednesday afternoon Jimmyboy…
7th over: South Africa 69-1 (de Kock 43, Markram 12) Harmeet Singh into the attack. He puts the brakes on a little, just five runs off a warp speed over, six darts. Blink and you miss it.
6th over: South Africa 64-1 (de Kock 41, Markram 9) Ali Khan is given a second over after Jasdeep Singh’s mauling last over. A tidy over is ruined at the last by a scything blow from de Kock – SIX pongoed over midwicket. Eight runs off the over – QDK is purring ominously. South Africa’s best Powerplay in the tournament by some way.
5th over: South Africa 56-1 (de Kock 35, Markram 8) The left arm spin of Nosthush Kenjige. Around the wicket with a slightly stuttering action. Stop motion spinner. Three singles off the first four balls but the last two are too short and punished by de Kock. One swept fine and one cut through point.
4th over: South Africa 45-1 (de Kock 26, Markram 6) Jasdeep Singh is into the attack and it is a HUGE over for South Africa. 28 runs smashed off the over!
Markram pings a four through cover and then takes a single to bring Quinton on strike. A four is pulled through midwicket and the short stuff proves very expensive. Three consecutive sixes are launched into the stands by de Kock – one of them a free hit off a front foot no ball. Singh finishes the over with a dot and breathes a very heavy sigh. You and me both, pal. South Africa looking dangerous with the bat for the first time this tournament.
3rd over: South Africa 17-1 (de Kock 4, Markram 1) Aidan Markram joins QdK in the middle and is off the mark with a glide to third. Netravalkar has 1-7 from his first two. Might be time to knock the coding on the head?
WICKET! Hendricks c Anderson b Netravalkar 11 (South Africa 16-1)
U S A! Netravalkar strikes! Hendricks tries to smoke him down the ground but loses his shape – hand coming off the bat during the stroke. Corey Anderson clings on to a steepler. Just about. Then holds his palms out as if to say ‘what were you worried about’?’
2nd over: South Africa 13-0 (de Kock 3, Hendricks 9) Pace man Ali Khan from t’other end with a slip in place. He’s whippy and around the wicket. Action reminiscent of Fidel Edwards. de Kock is tied down somewhat, a handsome drive stopped by some excellent fielding in the ring, Shayan Jahangir with the acrobatics at backward point. No such trouble for Hendricks who steps out and swats a length ball over extra cover for SIX.
1st over: South Africa 3-0 (de Kock 2, Hendricks 1) Quinton de Kock and Reeza Hendricks are opening up for South Africa. Saurabh Netravalkar – one of the stars of the tournament so far – is going to start with the ball. His mightily impressive form continues. Just three runs off the over as six balls are landed on a postage stamp outside off. The Proteas have been decidedly quiet in the PowerPlay in this tournament. Another barely audible start. May as well crank us some Lavigne to get the blood pumping.
Righto, time for some play!
Gary Stableford has been in touch on the song front. Not so sure Gaz.
Can I make it any more obvious…
The teams are on the field singing the anthems – The Star Spangled Banner really belted out in Antigua.
Ramps has been enjoying the tournament so far. Though is worried about how often they come around:
Teams:
This is the first game of the Super Eights*. In case you are wondering – all teams will start from scratch again, their previous games now have zero bearing.
*I’ve been singing it to the tune of this most of the day, getting the old mouth-Rickenbacker out for the intro of course.
Lots of good songs with eight in the title – Herman’s Hermits anyone?
I enjoyed this explainer from our American colleagues:
Could the US go all the way?
Let’s not get greedy. They’ve done superbly to make it to the Super 8s, where they’ll face South Africa (19 June), the West Indies (21 June) and reigning champions England or Scotland (23 June). Still, there have been other upsets. Afghanistan crushed New Zealand and Canada overcame Ireland. Perhaps most importantly, being in the Super 8 guarantees the US a berth in the next T20 World Cup, to be held in Sri Lanka and India in 2026.
Who are these newly minted sporting legends?
The US are coached by the former Australian batter, Stuart Law. The US’s star bowler, Saurabh Netravalkar, is a software engineer at Oracle. Netravalkar, 32, bowled the tie-breaking “super over” against Pakistan and took the wicket of Virat Kohli, the Indian superstar with 269m Instagram followers, though India won the match. Netravalkar was born in Mumbai and played for India under-19s. Batter and vice-captain Aaron Jones, born in Queens and raised in Barbados, smashed 10 sixes in the win over Canada. (A six, or a “dinger”, as Chuck would call it, is scored when a batter hits a fly ball over the boundary, similar to a home run.)
USA win the toss and bowl first
Sunny, hot and humid in Antigua. With what looks to be a strong breeze across the ground, shirts billowing, a toupée botherer. Shaun Pollock is in the middle and says he doesn’t think it will be a high scoring wicket (it’s the unused pitch number 5, for all you pitch nerds out there).
USA have won the toss and will bowl first. “We’re going to go with the extra spinner,” Aaron Jones says after calling the coin correctly. “I don’t think it’s (the pitch) is going to be too different to Dallas.”
Aidan Markram admits he wasn’t entirely sure what to do had he won the toss. “We would also have leaned towards bowling but we’re not too bothered with the result of the toss.”
I’ll post the teams in a sec.
Preamble
![James Wallace James Wallace](https://i0.wp.com/i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2022/08/30/James_Wallace.png?w=650&ssl=1)
James Wallace
In Pythagorean numerology the number eight represents victory, prosperity and overcoming. You knew that of course. The USA cricket team obviously did.
Hello and welcome to the OBO of the first game of the Super Eights in this T20 World Cup. Pakistan are on the plane home despite the timings of this fixture being earmarked by the ICC for subcontinent prime time time. That tells you something – nobody really expected the US to still be up and running, but that they are, and they’ve been one of the most exciting teams to watch in the tournament. Swatting aside Canada, holding their nerve against Pakistan and even causing a few wobbles in the mighty Indian batting line up.
South Africa are their opponents today, the Proteas have won all of their games… but not without incident. Having played three of their four matches on the tricksy New York wicket they’ve had a few scares along the way. Reduced to 12 for 4 hunting down 104 against the Dutch, winning by just four runs against Bangladesh and even squeakier – by a single run – against Nepal.
The Antigua pitch should suit the batters a bit more, but will by no means be a road. Let’s hope for a cracker to get the next phase of the tournament started.
Play begins in just over half an hour – 10:30am local time/ 3.30pm BST. If you are tuning in then do feel free to drop me a line – on Email or @Jimbo_Cricket.