S.A rout Canada as Scotland, Zimbabwe post wins at T20 WC

The runners-up of the 2024 T20 World Cup edition registered an emphatic 57-run victory over Canada in the ninth match of Group D at the Narendra Modi Stadium, powered by a dominant batting display up front and a ruthless spell with the ball from Lungi Ngidi, who ensured there were no late nerves.

South Africa put together a great start thanks to Aiden Markham’s strong aggressive batting. His opening partnership with Quinton de Kock yielded an impressive 70 runs through excellent control of the match from the get-go. De Kock provided support and scored just 25 runs from 22 balls, whereas Markham was in sublime fashion beating his 50 as well as scoring 59 runs off 32 balls to give South Africa a strong advantage.

South Africa enjoyed a steady period during the middle overs with Dewald Brevis struggling to get into form and scoring only 6 runs. On the other side though, Ryan Rickelton helped keep the pressure on Canada with some great batting and scoring 33 runs off 21 balls. However, once South Africa got David Miller to the crease, the innings started taking a wicked turn towards Canada.

Miller had a very calm end to the innings with nice and steady hitting from both himself and Tristan Stubbs instead of big swings. Miller was not out at 39 runs and Stubbs made an impressive contribution of 34 runs which lead South Africa to finish with a good total of 213/4 after 20 overs. Canada’s only notable accomplishment with the ball was through Ansh Patel who took out 3 wickets for 31 runs in his four overs, and Dilpreet Bajwa picked up the other one.

Despite Canada’s struggles with the bat, Lungi Ngidi ensured they never found their stride in their run chase, striking with the first ball of the innings by bowling Dilpreet Bajwa for a duck, leaving Canada on the back foot immediately. A brief counter-attack featured Yuvraj Samra hitting three boundaries off Ngidi, however, the pace bowler returned to have the last laugh when he dismissed the Canadian batter. After the end of the Powerplay, Canada were in all sorts of trouble having lost both Nicholas Kirton and Shreyas Movva to Ngidi’s bowling and the South African had taken three of the four wickets in that period.

In the middle overs, there was some resistance to go with Navneet Dhaliwal and Harsh Thaker adding a 69-run partnership for the fifth wicket, however, Canada were still behind the eight-ball on the required run rate, which at one stage exceeded 17 an over by the start of the 14th over, and they really never threatened to mount a comeback. Ngidi returned to the attack in his fourth over and dismissed Thaker for 33 runs, pretty much ending the contest.

Dhaliwal fought hard to finish with a half-century having scored 64 runs from 49 balls and was the top scorer for Canada; however, his dismissal in the last over was a true reflection of Canada’s plight. They finished with a total of 156 runs with 8 wickets in 20 overs, and well short of the target.

Ngidi stood out as the best performer with the ball, finishing with figures of 4 wickets for 31 runs in his four overs. Marco Jansen supported him with two wickets, while Kagiso Rabada and Corbin Bosch contributed one each.

Scotland spoil Italy’s debut with big win

T20 World Cup debutants Italy had a bruising introduction to cricket’s biggest stage as they suffered a crushing 73-run loss to Scotland on Monday in Kolkata.

Scotland piled up 207-4 with opener George Munsey top-scoring with 84 and in reply Italy were bowled out for 134 in 16.4 overs.

Off-spinner Michael Leask took 4-17 for Scotland, adding to his batting cameo of an unbeaten 22 off five balls.

A nation better known for its football, Italy are the lowest-ranked side in the 20-team tournament and were making a slice of history here.

Zimbabwe dominate Oman

Zimbabwe returned to the T20 World Cup in emphatic fashion on Monday, strolling to an eight-wicket win over Oman at Colombo’s Sinhalese Sports Club.

In their first T20 World Cup since 2022, Zimbabwe skittled Oman for 103 before knocking off the runs with 39 balls to spare.

Brian Bennett was unbeaten on 48 and Brendan Taylor, 40, who played in the first T20 World Cup in 2007, made 31 before retiring hurt.

Zimbabwe’s quick bowling twin towers Richard Ngarava and Blessing Muzarabani did the early damage, reducing Oman to 27-5 with none of their top order managing to get into double figures.

“We have to take it game by game and we are very happy with the win,” said Muzarabani, who won the player-of-the-match award.

“I am just coming from a back injury and didn’t want to really push it, so I shortened my run a bit. There was some good bounce on the pitch and I thought we used the conditions well.”

A face-saving 42-run stand for the sixth wicket between Sufyan Mehmood and Vinayak Shukla gave Oman’s total some respectability.

Ngarava finished with 3-17 and Muzarabani 3-16. Brad Evans provided the perfect first-change foil, hitting a nagging line and length to take 3-18.

Shukla top scored for Oman with 28 and Mehmood got 25.

When the chase started, Bennett and Tadiwanashe Marumani raced to 30 off 19 deliveries before two wickets brought Taylor to the crease.

The veteran showed some discomfort running between the wickets and retired hurt with victory four runs away, leaving skipper Sikandar Raza to finish the job with a boundary.

Agencies