Bowlers dominate in big wins for South Africa and Afghanistan at cricket’s Twenty20 World Cup

Anrich Nortje’s career-best 4-7 set South Africa up for a six-wicket opening victory and Fazal Haq Farooqi’s maiden five-wicket haul helped Afghanistan to a 125-run win over tournament newcomer Uganda.

South Africa overcame its own hiccups on the two-paced pitch to reach 80-4 with 3.4 overs to spare at the purpose-built Nassau County Stadium on Long Island.

South Africa’s best bowling performance in tournament history also included pace bowler Kagiso Rabada’s 2-21, spinner Keshav Maharaj’s 2-22, and fast bowler Ottneil Baartman’s 1-9 in his second T20.

Opener Kusal Mendis top-scored for Sri Lanka with a 30-ball 19, one of only three scores in double figures. The Sri Lankans were dismissed in 19.1 overs.

Skipper Wanindu Hasaranga took 2-22 but South Africa’s Heinrich Klaasen remained calm to finish off proceedings for the Proteas with an unbeaten 19.

“We did well to restrict them to a low score,” man-of-the-match Nortje said. “It was an up-and-down wicket, so it was important to get early wickets. These drop-in pitches are tough to bowl on.”

Tougher to bat on.

Sri Lanka opted to bat first and misread the variable bounce.

Baartman had Pathum Nissanka caught behind for 3. Nortje removed Kamindu Mendis, caught at square leg on 11. Hasaranga was surprisingly promoted to No. 4 but was stumped for a two-ball duck. Next ball, Maharaj bowled Sadeera Samarawickrama for a golden duck.

When Kusal Mendis mistimed Nortje to fine leg, Sri Lanka was 40-5 after 10 overs.

Nortje also dismissed Charith Asalanka and Angelo Mathews , the only batter with a strike rate of 100.

Sri Lanka lost its last four wickets for nine runs across 27 deliveries.

In hindsight, on a pitch that didn’t allow for the usual big T20 hits, Sri Lanka would have been competitive with a total of 100.

“To be honest this was a 120-run wicket, especially with our bowlers,” Hasaranga said. “We went with our strength, bowling, and that’s why we batted first.”

South Africa made a poor start in front of the crowd of 12,562, losing opener Reeza Hendricks in the second over.

Quinton de Kock scored 20 runs off 27 balls to hold one end, before returning a catch to Hasaranga in the 11th.

Klaasen and David Miller got South Africa home with a shared 22 off 21 balls.

At only 4.2 runs per over, the match featured the lowest run-rate in a T20 World Cup.

At Providence, Guyana, openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored 76 and Ibrahim Zadran scored 70 in a 154-run opening stand that set Afghanistan on course for 183-4. Farooqi took two wickets on consecutive balls in the first over and narrowly missed another chance for a hat-trick as Uganda tumbled to the fourth-lowest total at a T20 World Cup.

The contrast between the teams was starkly demonstrated with the second ball of each innings

Gurbaz drove the second ball of the match for a six.

Ronak Patel was bowled on the second ball of Uganda’s reply by Farooqi.

Uganda captain Brian Masaba had won the toss and decided to field in the hope that an early tournament trend would continue — chasing teams won the first four matches. That streak has ended.

It took Masaba until the 15th over to take Uganda’s first wicket at a T20 World Cup, dismissing Zadran to break Afghanistan’s opening stand.

Gurbaz, who hit the boundary four times and cleared it four times for sixes, scored his 76 from 45 balls before he was caught deep in the outfield to make the total 156-2. The pair of dismissals slowed down the run-rate as Afghanistan lost five wickets for 29 off the last 6 1/2 overs.

Any chance that Uganda had was over in the first power play, with Farooqi taking his two wickets with consecutive deliveries in the first over and Naveen-ul-Haq getting two wickets to have the African qualifiers reeling at 21-5 after six overs.

Only two Ugandan batters reached double figures.

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