The Tarouba surface not only offered lateral movement but also a lot of bounce early on. With the heights that Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada bring to the table, South Africa had a great attack to exploit conditions. Marco Jansen (3-16), Kagiso Rabada (2-14) and Anrich Nortje (2-7) took seven wickets between them while Tabraiz Shamsi added three lower-order scalps to his tally of wickets in the tournament to bring a quick end to Afghanistan’s batting misery.
The chase, despite the threats from the pitch, was mostly straightforward as South Africa began their Barbados march with a nine-wicket win sealed with as many as 67 balls to spare. South Africa’s quicks ravaged Afghanistan’s top order, taking five wickets inside the first five overs, to send the opposition spiraling towards their eventual 56 all out in the first semi-final of T20 World Cup 2024.
Pitch and Toss
The wind is blowing at a speed is 17kmph. Coming to ground dimensions, it’s 63 meters square of the wicket on either side and 75m hit straight down the ground. It’s a brand new wicket, there’s been seam, there’s been swing and there’s been spin.
There are a lot of cracks and there’s patchy grass so there will be uneven bounce. Out of the 51 wickets taken at this venue this world cup, 38 have been taken by seamers. It’s a bat first wicket and I think 140-150 would be a good score on this track, reckon Shaun Pollock and Ricky Ponting in their pitch report.
South African skipper Aiden Markram won the toss and chose to bowl with no changes in the team. Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan batting first also played with unchanged XI.
Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada rip out the top order in the Powerplay
The Tarouba surface not only offered lateral movement but also a lot of bounce early on. With the heights that Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada bring to the table, South Africa had a great attack to exploit conditions.
Afghanistan’s tournament playbook has been built on their openers batting long and taking them close to a par score before their stronger bowling suit applied scoreboard pressure on the opposition. After three century stands, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran were separated in the first over of the semifinal for the addition of just 2 runs. Marco Jansen bowled two short deliveries at the tournament’s leading run-getter before drawing a false shot with a fuller one that Gurbaz nicked to first slip and fell for a duck.
Gulbadin Naib, up at No.3, struck two boundaries but fell in Marco Jansen’s second over to a ball that shaped into him and kept a touch low to crash into the off-stump.
Aiden Markram was quick on the uptake and quickly whisked Keshav Maharaj off the attack after opening with him. In came Kagiso Rabada, who produced a double-wicket maiden by getting two deliveries to seam in to right-handers Zadran and Mohammad Nabi and knocking down their stumps. Marco Jansen had Afghanistan five down by getting Nangeyalia Kharote to glove a short delivery to the ‘keeper.
Marco Jansen struck at the end of the first over to remove Afghanistan’s batter of the tournament – Rahmanullah Gurbaz – who edged a ball angled across him to Hendricks at slip. In his next over, Marco Jansen bowled Gulbadin Naib through the gate with a delivery that darted back into him.
Rabada’s first over sent Afghanistan really into a nosedive. He jagged two balls back and hit timber on both occasions. The ball that clipped the top of Ibrahim Zadran’s middle stump was the killer – Ibrahim at that point was Afghanistan’s best hope of getting to a good score. Fourth ball, he took out Mohammad Nabi’s off stump with an even more stunning delivery. That over was a double-wicket maiden.
Nortje, Shamsi ensure swift wrap-up for paltry 56 runs in the middle overs
With the top five gone, and their middle order having failed to produce much right through the tournament, Afghanistan were seriously struggling. Anrich Nortje and Tabraiz Shamsi closed down the innings from there. Nortje had Azmatullah Omarzai (the only Afghan batter to get to double figures) caught at deep point, then later knocked out Rashid Khan’s off stump.
Shamsi bowled a leg-stump line to the right-handers and kept getting them lbw as the balls rushed onto them. They reviewed all three decisions, but the on-field umpires had given them out, and umpires’ calls on impact were good enough.
South Africa had more pace to dish out and Nortje quickly made it 28/6 when Azmatullah Omarzai’s attempts to counter-attack found a fielder at sweeper cover. Captain Rashid found back-to-back boundaries off Rabada but he too was cleaned up by a pacy Nortje delivery. The tail stood little chance against Shamsi, who won three LBW appeals to take his tournament wickets tally to 11 from just four games.
Steady start gets SA more than half-way home in the Powerplay
The pitch continued to unveil demons – climbing steeply or rolling toward the ankle – from an identical spot on the good length but South Africa were able to ride their luck. Quinton de Kock copped a blow to his ribcage and was worked over by Fazalhaq Farooqi, who bowled him two outswingers before castling him with one that curled back in.
At the other end, Naveen-ul-Haq should have had Aiden Markram but no one barring Rashid heard the outside edge and therefore a review was not taken. Afghanistan were missing some height and pace in their fast bowlers and therefore extracted slightly lesser variance from the surface. That coupled with a low total to chase allowed the pair of Markram and Reeza Hendricks to build steadily towards the target.
Coming into this match, Fazalhaq Farooqi and Naveen-ul-Haq had 29 wickets between them. Their only chance of defending such a paltry score was running through the top order together. Farooqi added to his tournament-high wicket tally in his first over, setting de Kock up with some big outswingers before jagging one back in and making a mess of his stumps.
And Naveen should have had Markram the next over, but most of Afghanistan’s players didn’t hear the thin edge to the wicketkeeper, and Rashid wasn’t sure enough of it to review the decision.
Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram guide SA to their first-ever World Cup final
There were still testing moments, as the pitch continued to play up, still often keeping low. But whenever Afghanistan bowled poor deliveries, South Africa’s batters pounced. The fifth over itself yielded 13 runs – more than a fifth of the target. South Africa got home in the ninth over, sparking restrained celebrations, even though this was a historic victory for them.
There was not much left to hunt down for South Africa post the PowerPlay and the batting pair of Markram and Hendricks needed only 17 balls to guide their team home. They had uncertainties with the bounce on the pitch but the South African captain hit a pair of excellent drives on the up. Hendricks rubber-stamped South Africa’s attendance in Barbados emphatically with a six and a four off Azmatullah Omarzai.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Aiden Markram the winning skipper said : Feels good. It’s not only the captain that gets you here, it is a massive squad effort. Plenty of guys behind the scenes as well. Fortunate to have lost the toss, we would have batted too. We were brilliant with the ball, got it in the right areas and kept it really simple. The bowlers have been incredible for us. It was challenging with the bat, no batter is going to lie and tell you it was easy out there. We had a bit of luck and then got a bit of a partnership.
We have had a few close games and a few people back home would have woken up early with more grey hairs. Glad today was a bit more comforting. (On the final) It is one more step for us, it is an opportunity we have never had, nothing to be scared of. This win means a lot, we have some world class players in the side but like I said, it takes a whole squad to be able to deliver such a performance.
Rashid Khan the loosing skipper said : It was tough, tough for us as a team. We might have done better but the conditions didn’t allow us to do what we wanted. That’s how T20 cricket is, you need to be ready for all conditions. I think they bowled really well. I think we got good success in this tournament because the seamers bowled really well, you need good starts. I think we were unlucky with Mujeeb’s injury, but our seamers and even Nabi bowled brilliantly with the new ball.
That made our job easier as spinners. We have enjoyed this tournament. We will accept playing a semi-final and losing to a top side like Africa. It is just the beginning for us, we have the confidence and belief to beat any side. We just need to keep our processes. This has been a great learning experience for us. What we take from the competition is the belief.
We know we have the skills, it is just about managing tough situations, pressure situations. Some work to be done, specially in the middle order to take the innings deep. As I said, it is always learning for our team and we have achieved good results so far but we will come back doing more hard work, specially in the batting department.
Marco Jansen Player of the match for his bowling said: Awesome feeling. The guys played really well, we executed perfectly. We just wanted to stick to our plan, bowl good lengths and see how the wicket reacts. The wicket was getting a bit open, and it was about keeping it simple. (On Markram) He is awesome to have as a captain. We’ll enjoy tonight and be on our way again.
The semi-final jinx has finally been broken! South Africa are through to an ICC final and they get there with a brutal display of dominance and fiery fast bowling. Afghanistan were perhaps overawed by the occasion, and two emotionally draining wins over Australia and Bangladesh clearly took a toll on them. A fiery spell of fast bowling from Rabada and Jansen blew them away in the powerplay, as the innings never got going.
Shamsi and Nortje joined the party post the powerplay to skittle out Afghanistan for just 56 runs – the lowest ever score in a World Cup semi-final. In reply, Afghanistan’s new ball bowlers bowled valiantly, and Farooqi got the wicket of de Kock with a ball that nipped back in. However, the target was too small and after playing out the first few overs, Markram and Hendricks found their hitting zone.
The South African skipper played some classy punch strokes, while Hendricks finished off the game with a six and a four. Target chased down in under 9 overs. A historic day for South Africa, a day to forget for Afghanistan after a historic campaign. For a team infamous for playing jittery cricket in the knockouts, this win was dominant and clinical. South Africa left next to nothing to chance. They bowled beautifully, fielded well, and weathered some difficult early overs while pouncing on the loose balls.
As their reward, they have their first ever berth in a men’s World Cup final, and continued their unbeaten run in the tournament, which now is up to eight matches. The margin of victory, by nine wickets and with 67 balls remaining, underscored the control they exerted on this match, from start to finish.
So buried are the ghosts of 22 runs off 1 ball. Forgotten is the face of a confused Mark Boucher who defended the last ball against Sri Lanka in a botched DLS chase. The image of a forlorn Dale Steyn, down on the ground in tears as Grant Elliot celebrates next to him isn’t as haunting anymore. The conversations around Donald not running, of Herschelle Gibbs dropping the World Cup don’t seem taboo anymore.
For all the perpetual bad luck, for all the untimely chokes, maybe, just maybe the rub of the green seems to have tilted in favour of the rainbow nation, and Aiden Markram’s boys march on to Kensington Oval with a new ray of hope and optimism. Today was a cake walk but they’ve come through in four final over finishes, and here they are now knocking at the doorstep of history!!
South Africa go where no Proteas men’s side have gone before – to a World Cup final. Afghanistan will head home but can hold their heads high after an inspirational campaign.