Review: SA20 players star in ICC T20 World Cup (week 2)

The Pretoria Capitals have no less than eight contracted players on duty for their countries at the T20 World Cup but it was, perhaps, the most unheralded of their star players who shone the brightest when Irish left-arm seamer, Josh Little, returned figures of 3-0-16-2 to help his team to one of the biggest shocks of the tournament as Ireland beat tournament favourites England by five runs (DLS) at the MCG on Wednesday.

MI Capetonians Sam Curran (2-31) and Liam Livingstone (3-17) were among the wickets for England but a stuttering run-chase was ended prematurely by the rain handing Ireland a famous victory.

South Africa’s SA20 stars were even more prominent in their emphatic, 104-run victory against Bangladesh at the SCG on Thursday with the Capitals’ Rilee Rossouw smashing 109 from just 56 balls and Durban Super Giants’ Quinton de Kock (63 from 38) doing most of the heavy lifting in a total of 205-5.

Yet another Capitals man, Anrich Nortje, claimed 4-10 and the Paarl Royals’ Tabraiz Shamsi snared 3-20 as Bangladesh were bundled out for a meagre 101 in reply as the Proteas kick-started their World Cup campaign with two points after a frustrating washout against Zimbabwe.

Joburg Super Kings’ mystery spinner, Maheesh Theekshana, and Capitals’ batsman Kusal Mendis were frustrated during a 67-run loss to New Zealand in which Pretoria Capitals allrounder, Jimmy Neesham, almost enjoyed a day scoring a leisurely five runs with the bat and not being required to bowl as the Black Caps continue their determined march towards the semifinals.

But the depth and breadth of the talent that will be on display at the inaugural SA20, which starts on 10 January just 58 days after the World Cup final, when the Proteas pulled off a thrilling five-wicket victory against India with just two balls to spare at the Perth Stadium on Sunday evening.

Lungi Ngidi, who will be in action for the Paarl Royals in January, was man-of-the-match for his 4-29 which restricted the mighty Indians to a modest 133-9 but it was anything but a one-man show. Capitals’ Wayne Parnell was outstanding bowling two overs in the Power Play and two at the end of the innings for a remarkable analysis – which included that great T20 rarity, a maiden – of 4-1-15-3.

Kagiso Rabada, a crucial part of the Mumbai Indians Cape Town squad, was no less impressive at both ends of the innings despite going wicketless with 4-0-26-0 and Anrich Nortje, who will play alongside Parnell for the Capitals, delivered 1-23 from his four overs. They may be separated during the SA20 but they formed a formidable unit together for the Proteas.

Having limped to 40-3 at the halfway point of their run-chase South Africa were in desperate need of cool heads and experience requiring 94 from the final 10 overs of the match. And that is exactly what they got from Aiden Markram and David Miller who provided ample evidence of why they were pre-auction buys for the Sunrisers Eastern Cape and the Royals respectively.

Markram began the acceleration with a flurry of boundaries off Hardik Pandya before he was dismissed for a fine 52 from 41 balls and Miller struck two critical sixes in the 18th over against offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin to reduce the target from 24 off three overs to 12 off 12 balls before keeping a cool head to finish the job with two balls to spare and put the Proteas firmly on course for a semifinal place.

England will hope that their captain and Paarl Royals opening batsman, Jos Buttler, will come good in what is effectively a win-or-go-home match against New Zealand in Brisbane on Tuesday next week – although he is not alone in shouldering his nation’s expectations among the 26 SA20 players doing duty at the World Cup as the battle for semifinal places hots up.