AB de Villiers’s 79 not out provided the platform for South Africa to crush Scotland by 130 runs in the Proteas’ opening match of the ICC World Twenty20 at the Oval on Sunday.
Scotland, chasing a target of 212 after South Africa made 211 for five, slumped to 81 all out.
“We played beautifully today,” South Africa captain Graeme Smith told reporters. “We had a few more nerves after watching the first few days of the tournament [who started with minnows Netherlands beating England], so today it was important to send a message.”
Scotland collapsed to 13 for four inside three overs and only Kyle Coetzer’s gutsy 42 off 32 balls prevented an even greater margin of defeat.
Scotland could also take some consolation from the performance of off-spinner Majid Haq, who took two wickets in four balls to remove openers Jacques Kallis and South Africa captain Graeme Smith, who put on 87.
This crushing reverse ended minnows Scotland’s slim hopes of qualifying for the second phase Super Eights after their seven-wicket loss to New Zealand, the other team in Group D, in a rain-affected match at the Oval on Saturday.
South Africa quick Dale Steyn bowled Ryan Watson off the fifth ball of the reply and, after Hamilton fell to Wayne Parnell, two wickets were lost with the score on 13.
Navdeep Poonia was run out needlessly for nought before Colin Smith was bowled first ball by a Steyn yorker.
Scotland briefly staunched the flow of wickets before Neil McCallum was bowled by off-spinner Johan Botha to leave his side 35 for five. When South Africa batted, Kallis dragged a sweep against Haq onto his stumps having faced 31 balls with eight fours.
And three balls later Smith got a top-edge off Haq which was caught by Scotland wicket-keeper Colin Smith.
Scotland put a brake on the run-rate and when Herschelle Gibbs was stumped by Smith off Watson, South Africa were 125 for three in the 15th over.
But the Proteas scored 83 runs off the last five overs although the last over did see Coetzer take a brilliant catch, diving backwards, to get rid of Mark Boucher.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later