Both England and South Africa are through to the 2024 T20 World Cup semi-finals after winning their respective Group 1 Super Eights matches on Sunday. As the winners of the group, England will go on to face the second place team from Group 2 in the semis. South Africa will meet the first place team.
England Dominate USA in 10 Wicket Victory
Team USA was no match for England on the day, as the defending champions pummeled their opponents by 10 wickets with 10.2 overs to spare.
After putting USA into bat, England kept the pressure up for the entire innings, allowing just 115 runs. Jos Buttler then came out in the chase and scored a scorching 83 not out from 38 deliveries to boost the team’s net run rate (NRR) to 1.992. This was important, as it guaranteed that England would qualify for the semi-finals regardless of the result of the South Africa/West Indies match.
Chris Jordan was the star of the show with the ball, becoming the first England player to take a men’s T20I hat-trick. Jordan, who replaced Mark Wood, took four wickets in his final five deliveries, ending with figures of 4-10 in just 2.5 overs. In the process, USA collapsed from 115 for 5 to 115 all out.
Nitish Kumar top scored for USA with 30 runs off 24 balls, while Corey Anderson chipped in with a nearly run a ball 29. Adil Rashid and Sam Curran joined Jordan in the wickets column, both dismissing two batsmen apiece.
The match started off relatively well in Bridgetown for the co-hosts, reaching 48 for 2 in their first six overs. England clamped down with spin afterward, both Rashid and Livingstone only conceding 25 runs in the six overs after the powerplay.
It didn’t get much better from there, the only emphasis came from Harmeet Singh who struck 21 in a 27-run stand with Corey Anderson. Singh would however fall at the end of the 18th over and Anderson soon after, leaving the tailenders at the mercy of Jordan.
England came out to bat knowing that the target of 116 needed to be chased down in 18.4 overs to ensure England’s NRR would go ahead of South Africa. Buttler, however, clearly wanted to finish the match off faster, as England raced to 60 in the powerplay. He even took up a notch in the ninth over, striking five sixes which took him to a half century off just 32 balls.
The match didn’t last much longer as Buttler powered his team to 116 with 62 balls to spare to secure England a semi-final berth.
South Africa Beats West Indies In Thriller To Qualify For Semis
The second match on Sunday was a thriller between hosts West Indies and South Africa for the second spot in the semi-finals.
West Indies batted first and posted a total of 135/8 off their allotted 20 overs. South Africa started off the chase but the match was struck by rain with the score at 15/2 after 2 overs. When the match was restarted, South Africa was set a target of 123 off 17 overs, which seemed like a relative walk in the park with 8 wickets in hand.
It was anything but that however, as the West Indians fought hard in front of a home crowd but fell short in the final over. Marco Jansen had the finishing blow, hitting Obed McCoy for a big six with his team only needing 5 off the last 6 balls.
Earlier in the day, Roston Chase scored 52 off 42 balls which ended up being the high score for the match. No South African batsmen made a score over 30 runs but they were still able to chase down the target with smaller partnerships.
Tabraiz Shamsi won the Man of the Match award for his spell of 3-27. Chase however had an outstanding match with 52 crucial runs and 3 for 12 in his three overs with the ball.