South Africa skipper happy with first global final

TAROUBA, Trinidad (CMC):

SOUTH AFRICA skipper, Aiden Markram, believes his side deserved to be in the first final they have made since readmission to the sport 32 years ago.

“To be honest, I think it’s a personal and individual motivation that gets you into a final; to earn the opportunity to hopefully lift the trophy,” Markram said after his side demolished dismantled Afghanistan batting and powered them to a nine-wicket win in the first semi-final of the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup on Wednesday in Trinidad.

It was a first win in eight white-ball World Cup semi-finals for South Africa since they were readmitted to the sport following a two-decade isolation imposed because of the country’s system of Apartheid.

It comes seven months after the Proteas failed in their attempt to reach the final of the One-day International World Cup in India, where eventual champions Australia beat them by three wickets in the semi-finals at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

There was the guarantee that one of the teams in the final would be there for the first time, with Afghanistan counting themselves as newcomers to the final four of any global cricket event.

However, on a Brian Lara Cricket Academy pitch that played a little indifferently, Afghanistan struggled.

Unorthodox left-arm spinner Tabraiz Shamsi capped the demolition job with three for six from 1.5 overs, but beanpole left-arm pacer Marco Jansen was the catalyst with a Player-of-the-Match spell of three for 16 from three overs. The performances meant Afghanistan were bowled out for their lowest T20 International total, 56 in 11.5 overs, after they decided to bat under the lights at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy.

Anrich Nortje hastened the destruction with two for seven from three overs, and fellow paceman Kagiso Rabada bagged two for 14 from three overs.

“I just think it’s bad as we haven’t fired really, the middle order hasn’t fired enough this World Cup.

“We’ve perhaps been a bit too reliant on [Rahmanullah] Gurbaz and Ibrahim [Zadran] to get runs. Nobody else has got runs – and we need to find a reason for that. We need to get more batters in who are going to score runs and be more consistent like the openers have been and give us a chance in games. That’s the project for going forward,” said Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott, the former England batsman.

Pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi, the leading bowler in the tournament so far with 17 wickets, brought a bit of excitement for Afghanistan when he bowled South African left-handed opener Quinton De Kock for five in the second over.

But Reeza Hendricks, not out on 29, and Markram, not out on 23, made sure there was no more drama to the run chase with a calm, unbroken stand of 55 for the second wicket, the Proteas finishing on 60 for one.

Hendricks formalised the result in style with 67 balls remaining when he swung a short ball from pacer Azmatullah Omarzai for the first six of the match over square leg, and drilled a four to long-off from successive balls to extend his side’s winning streak at the tournament to eight matches.