Skipper Faf du Plessis scored an unbeaten half-century to set up a crushing 52-run win for South Africa over Bangladesh in the first Twenty20 international in Dhaka, Bangladesh, yesterday.
Du Plessis helped the visitors recover from a shaky start with an unbeaten 79 off 61 balls, his sixth half-century in Twenty20 internationals, which included eight fours.
Off-spinner J.P. Duminy (two for 11), medium pacer David Wiese (two for 12) and fast bowler Kagiso Rabada (two for 28) then put in a combined effort to dismiss Bangladesh for 96 runs on a slow wicket at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
Photo: AP
Shakib Al Hasan was the only batsman to offer some kind of resistance with 26 off 30 balls, while debutante Litton Das made 22 off 33 balls.
Bangladesh lost both their openers for 13 runs, but seemed to have recovered when Shakib and Mushfiqur Rahim (17) put 37 runs for the second wicket.
The game decisively swung the Proteas’ way when Duminy dismissed Rahim and Sabbir Rahman (4) in successive overs and left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso removed Nasir Hossain for 1 as Bangladesh collapsed from 50-2 to 57-5.
Photo: AFP
Earlier, opting to bat first, South Africa struggled to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
Bangladesh started with spinners from both ends and struck almost immediately with left-armer Arafat Sunny dismissing A.B. de Villiers in the very first over for 2.
De Villiers opened the innings for only the second time in his Twenty20 international career and conceded four dots before he picked out Mashrafee Mortaza at cover from the last ball of the over.
Quinton de Kock tried to break the shackles with a six off Nasir over cover, but soon went to a Das catch at point off the same bowler for 12.
Sunny returned for his second spell to break a 46-run third-wicket partnership between Du Plessis and Duminy as Nasir took a well-judged catch in the deep to dismiss the latter for 18.
Du Plessis said he was happy to play the match-winning knock on a difficult wicket.
“It’s a knock that you’d like to play as a batter,” the skipper said after the game. “Not the easiest wicket, not a flat T20 wicket, had to graft a lot.”
“Ball was spinning and staying low, we just needed a partnership and Rilee [Rossouw] played really well. That was the match-winning partnership,” he said.
Shakib trapped David Miller leg before wicket for 1, but Du Plessis added 58 runs in an unbroken fifth-wicket stand with Rossouw (31 not out) to take South Africa to a respectable total.
Rossouw faced 21 balls and hit two fours and as many sixes in his cameo.
Sunny finished with two for 19 for Bangladesh.
Bangladesh skipper Mortaza promised to improve their batting in the second match.
“I think [our] batsmen played too many shots, but we can fix it,” he said.
“It’s not too much of a worry the way they are batting. We’ll be back in the next match,” he added.
The second and final match of the two-match series is to be held at the same ground tomorrow.
College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen has become the first female player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after the Golden State Valkyries selected her in the third and final round of the league’s draft on Monday. Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship earlier this month. While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament’s most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year. Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as
College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen (陳凱玲) has become the first player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after being selected by the Golden State Valkyries in the third and final round of the league's draft yesterday. Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship on April 6. While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament's most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year. Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as a
Robinson Cano spent 17 seasons playing in the MLB in front of all kinds of baseball fans, but he said there is something special about his stint with the Mexican Baseball League’s Diablos Rojos. He is not alone. The league last week opened its 100th season, aiming to keep an impressive growth in attendance that began after the national team’s surprise run at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and is already surpassing some first-division soccer clubs. After finishing third in the 2023 tournament, many casual fans, some of them soccer enthusiasts disappointed after Mexico were eliminated in the first round in the 2022
Kumar Rocker, a first-round pick in both the 2021 and 2022 drafts, on Thursday won for the first time in the major leagues. Rocker struck out a career-best eight in a career-best seven innings as the Texas Rangers beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-3 to complete a three-game sweep. Rocker (1-2) threw a career-high 78 pitches and allowed three runs on five hits without a walk. The 25-year-old right-hander was drafted third overall by Texas in 2022, a year after concerns over a physical led to him going unsigned by the New York Mets as the 10th overall pick. He made his major
RSS