South Africa 80 for 4 (De Kock 20, Hasaranga 2-22, Shanaka 1-6) beat Sri Lanka 77 (Nortje 4-7, Rabada 2-21, Maharaj 2-22, Baartman 1-9) by six wickets
South Africa opened their T20 World Cup campaign in authoritative fashion by bowling Sri Lanka out for their lowest total in the format and chasing 78 runs inside 17 overs to secure two points. At the first official T20I match to be played at the newly-created stadium at Eisenhower Park, we learnt more about the conditions than either of the two sides. The surface is tricky to bat on, there’s inconsistent bounce, not much turn and the venue has big square boundaries, which are difficult to breach.
As a result of the South Africans combined efforts, only three Sri Lankan batters got into double figures, and only one partnership – their seventh-wicket stand between Dasun Shanaka and Angelo Mathews – was worth more than 20. They’ll rue not getting another 20 or 30 runs because that could have made things really tricky for South Africa. At 58 for 4 in the 13th over, 100 would have been a tough ask but 78 was within reach. Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller took them home with 22 balls to spare.
In all, 127 out of the 214 balls faced by the batters in this game were dots, the most dots in a Men’s T20 World Cup game.
Baartman strikes with his first ball
The numbers – 11 T20 matches since comeback from a stress fracture in March, 40 overs, 449 runs, nine wickets – suggested picking Nortje was a risk but the coach, Rob Walter, believed otherwise. He backed Nortje’s selection based on his raw pace and the ability to vary it, and Nortje justified his backing in spectacular fashion. Brought on as the fifth bowler, after the powerplay, Nortje followed what he saw his fellow quicks doing and resisted the short ball for fuller lengths. He was rewarded with his fifth ball as Kamindu Mendis tried to flick him over square leg but the shot lacked power and found Reeza Hendricks instead. Kusal Mendis tried to clear a 150kph ball over the big square boundary but was well-caught by Tristan Stubbs, looking into the sun. Charith Asalanka went the same way as Kamindu, and Angelo Mathews was rushed into the hook shot and top-edged. Nortje finished with impeccable figures of 4 for 7.
There weren’t very many to choose from, with only three fours and three sixes in Sri Lanka’s innings and the same number from South Africa to create a) an antidote to the IPL and b) a match of old-fashioned grind and some tension. What there was dissipated when Heinrich Klaasen, arguably the best boundary-hitter at the event, hit Wanindu Hasaranga over long-on and then straight down the ground for six and then four to all but end the match. With those two shots, Klaasen showed off the quality of the base from which he hits the ball and the power with which he hits it, and South Africa will hope to see a lot more of that as the tournament goes on. For today, it was enough to secure victory.