Quinton de Kock hit 74 runs as South Africa secured an 18 run victory over USA in their T20 World Cup second round clash at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound.
At the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, the Super Eights stage began with the Proteas batting first and restricting the USA to 176-6 after amassing 194-4 from their 20 overs.
But when Andries Gous (80 not out) and Harmeet Singh (38), who put up 91 runs for the sixth wicket, put the USA, who had shocked the previous winners Pakistan in the first round, dangerously close to pulling off another upset.
De Kock, the opening batsman and top run scorer in the format for his country, achieved his 15th T20 international fifty off 26 balls.
In the end, he was removed for 74 from 40 balls after hitting seven fours and five sixes, easily the best score he had scored all tournament.
The 31-year-old’s greatest score in four prior World Cup appearances at the crease was just 20 against Sri Lanka.
“We’ve had some tricky wickets so it was nice to spend some time in the middle today. The USA put us under pressure towards the end. It was a great game,” said De Kock after South Africa had struggled for runs on the slow wickets of the US in the first round.
USA skipper Aaron Jones admitted it was a “tough result to take”.
“We did lack discipline in the bowling at times. Once we play good cricket we can beat any team in the world. But we need to be a lot more disciplined,” he said.
Along with hitting his tournament-best 46 from 32 balls, which included four boundaries and a six, was skipper Aiden Markram.
After scoring 110 runs for the second wicket, Markram and De Kock enabled their team to reach 101-1 in the first ten overs.
In the span of two balls, slow left-armer Harmeet removed both fellow dangerman David Miller (0) and De Kock, bringing the United States back into the game.
Saurabh Netravalkar, an outstanding fast bowler who finished with 2-21 from his four overs, ended Markram’s innings.
For the fifth wicket, Heinrich Klaasen (36 not out) and Tristan Stubbs (20 not out) combined for an unbeaten 53.
After hitting 50 in the first five overs of their reply, the United States had a great start to their innings before finding it difficult to withstand the pace-spin attack of the Proteas.
After taking out Steven Taylor (24), and Nitish Kumar (eight), Kagiso Rabada dealt a serious blow to American hopes when Jones was out without a run.
Jones, who defeated spinner Keshav Maharaj to De Kock on Wednesday, lasted just five balls despite smashing an unbroken 94 in the first-round victory over Canada.
After hitting a six over midwicket, former New Zealand international Corey Anderson struck a fast twelve before Anrich Nortje scattered his stumps one delivery later.
After stuttering to 73-4 after 10 overs, the USA’s hopes were abruptly revived by openers Gous and Harmeet.
In the 18th over, Gous hit three sixes off leg-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, leaving his team requiring 28 off 12 balls.
But Rabada finished with 3-18, giving up just two runs off the 19th over and removing Harmeet as well.
Harmeet scored two fours and three sixes in his 22 balls of batting.
Gous scored 47 runs off of 47 balls, including five fours and five sixes.
Within his four overs, Shamsi amassed fifty runs.
The other teams in Group 2 of the Super Eights are West Indies and reigning champions England.
Group 1 is made up of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Australia, and India.
Photo by T20 World Cup Twitter
