T20 World Cup 2021: Match 39, England vs South Africa – Who Said What

South Africa ended their 2021 T20 World Cup campaign on a high, snapping England’s four-match winning streak by a 10-run victory in a closely-fought encounter in Sharjah. Having set England a 190-run target, the qualification equation needed them to stop England for 131 or fewer, which they could not.

The victory means South Africa finished the tournament tied on eight points with both England and Australia, the two semi-finalists from the first group, although the inferior net run rate denied them a chance to move further ahead.

After being put in, South Africa made a modest start and were 73/1 at the halfway mark. Quinton de Kock was unable to play freely but did well to support Rassie van der Dussen after the early loss of Reeza Hendricks, who was cleaned up by Moeen Ali.

In what eventually turned out to be an innings of two halves, South Africa scored 116 in the last 10 overs courtesy of van der Dussen and Aiden Markram’s carnage as the duo added 103 in an undefeated partnership that took merely 52 balls after de Kock was undone by Adil Rasid for a 27-ball 34.

Sensing the need for acceleration to give his team a realistic chance, van der Dussen took the attack to the England bowlers after getting his eyes in. He ended up smashing six sixes and five fours in his 60-ball knock and came rather close to notching up a three-digit score but was left stranded at 94 off 60, while Markram stood unbeaten on 52 off merely 25.

England, who needed to score at least 87 to qualify for the semi-finals, breached that mark by the 11th over, while Liam Livingstone smoked Kagiso Rabada for three consecutive sixes in the 16th to end Proteas’ campaign, taking England past 131. Much like always, England made a brisk start, adding 59 in just the powerplay, but received a blow when Jason Roy hobbled off the field retired hurt in what looked like a tournament-ending muscle tear.

He was 20 off 15 then, and could not return. Moeen Ali, who came in at No. 3, kept the tempo high with a brisk 37-run knock but England lost Jos Buttler (26 off 15) and Jonny Bairstow in quick succession. Tabraiz Shamsi, who pinned Bairstow on the front, later also sent back Moeen Ali before Dawid Malan, Livingstone and Eoin Morgan kept England’s chase on track.

However, Dwaine Pretorius dismissed both Malan (33 off 36) Livingstone (28 off 17) in successive overs to tighten the noose. The situation distilled down to 14 needed off the last over, when Rabada redeemed himself, bagging his maiden T20 World Cup hat-trick with the dismissals of Morgan, Chris Waokes and Chris Jordan to defend the target.

Losing skipper Eoin Morgan:

I think it was a really good wicket. SA came really hard at us, batted well. I thought we were a bit off in the field, held them to a slightly par score. Obviously, Jason Roy going down the way he did does hurt, but we still did well to get that close. I think every game tests us in different ways. The biggest test this tournament has been against Sri Lanka, batting first and Jos Buttler rescued us from a hole. Had to bowl under the dew and we came out with flying colours. Today, there wasn’t as much pressure although it was a good test. Probably Jason will be assessed tomorrow. We do have a lot of depth, we’ve built a good white-ball group over the last few years, so really excited. Yes, really happy, we’ve topped the group and that’s never easy.

Winning skipper Temba Bavuma:

The win was important. Bitter-sweet end for us. We achieved what we wanted to – win the game but just couldn’t win it big enough. At the start of the tournament, that (net run rate) was never a factor for us, we just wanted to win games. It’s always tough to make up for that at the back end, especially against a team like England. The young guys will learn a lot from this. I think this is going to give us a lot of experience and confidence. It’ll give us a lot of knowledge on how to go about things forward.

Player of the Match Rassie van der Dussen:

It (the award) doesn’t mean too much in the context, but we knew we had to get a good score. We were asking too much from the bowlers to defend that score in order to get into the semis. At the end of the day, it was a good performance, beating a good side. It’s a type of a wicket, where the new batters needed time to get in, you saw that in their innings when they lost wickets. So Markram and I tried to get in and get a good total. The three venues are so different. The match against Bangladesh, the pitch was different, it was difficult to bat there. Today it kept low, from the batting point of view it has been quite a challenge to adjust to the three venues. The batting units who have adapted the quickest have been the most successful.