World
Unbeaten South Africa in front as USA hope for more magic
Match details
USA vs South Africa
Super Eight, North Sound, June 19, 10.30am local time
Big picture – Can USA slay another giant?
It’s Super Eight time.
So USA, in their first T20 World Cup appearance, are now A2, and will kickstart the Super Eight stage against South Africa. As both teams head over to North Sound in Antigua – USA aren’t quite at home anymore, note – they would hope for two things: better batting conditions and no rain.
South Africa have lost 11 wickets and are averaging a mere 9.63 in the powerplay this World Cup – the third-lowest behind Uganda and Papua New Guinea. And none of their top-order batters have a strike rate of 100 in the first six overs.
Having said that, South Africa played three of their four games in New York, where batting conditions were far from ideal. And in hopefully better conditions in North Sound, they will hope the top order can finally flex their muscles.
The likes of Aaron Jones, Saurabh Netravalkar and Monank Patel have shown they belong to this level of cricket. Now for them to give it another tilt and try to take another Full Member down.
Form guide
USA LWWLW (last five matches, most recent first)
South AfricaWWWWL
In the spotlight – Saurabh Netravalkar and Anrich Nortje
Team news – Shamsi or Maharaj, or both?
USA’s last group game in Lauderhill was abandoned without a ball bowled. Before that, they played India, where Monank Patel, their regular captain, missed out because of a shoulder injury. He is likely to come back into the team replacing Shayan Jahangir at the top. Depending on the conditions, there is also a chance USA could slot in left-arm spinner Nosthush Kenjige in place of fast bowler Shadley van Schalkwyk.
USA (probable): 1 Steven Taylor, 2 Monank Patel (capt), 3 Andries Gous (wk), 4 Nitish Kumar, 5 Aaron Jones, 6 Corey Anderson, 7 Harmeet Singh, 8 Shadley van Schalkwyk/Nosthush Kenjige, 9 Jasdeep Singh, 10 Saurabh Netravalkar, 11 Ali Khan
South Africa brought in Tabraiz Shamsi for Keshav Maharaj in their last group game, and that could be the only selection they spend time on for this game. While Shamsi got four wickets against Nepal, Maharaj has performed consistently.
South Africa (probable): 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Reeza Hendricks, 3 Aiden Markram (capt), 4 Tristan Stubbs, 5 Heinrich Klaasen, 6 David Miller, 7 Marco Jansen, 8 Tabraiz Shamsi/Keshav Maharaj, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Ottneil Baartman, 11 Anrich Nortje
Pitch and conditions
It is expected to be an overcast morning in North Sound, but there is no rain forecast in the area on Wednesday. The teams batting second have won three out of four games here, with the surface good for batting. At the World Cup, Australia and England blew Namibia and Oman away respectively, but Oman hit up 150 against Scotland, which was chased down in 13.1 overs, and the rain-hit England vs Namibia game had 206 runs in 20 overs.
Stats that matter
- Nortje has picked up eight wickets in the middle phase, the second-highest after Adam Zampa’s nine
- USA have the highest run rate against spin of all the teams in the tournament – 11.04; Jones has been striking at 263.33 against spinners in the World Cup 2024 (80 off 30 balls)
- South Africa have the second-best death-overs economy in this tournament – 5.27
- This will be the first T20I between the two sides
Ashish Pant is a sub-editor with ESPNcricinfo