South Africa's captain Aiden Markram (R) celebrates after the dismissal of West Indies' wicketkeeper Nicholas Pooran during the ICC men's Twenty20 World Cup 2024 Super Eight cricket match between West Indies and South Africa at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua and Barbuda Following their nail-biting T20 World Cup Super Eight win over the West Indies to qualify for the semi-finals, Proteas skipper Aiden Markram sent out a warning to the rest of the teams at the tournament. Seen here: Proteas players Kagiso Rabada (left) and Aiden Markram (right). Picture: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP
After yet another nail-biting victory in the T20 World Cup on Monday, this time to secure their semi-final spot at the expense of the West Indies, Proteas skipper Aiden Markram sent out a warning to the rest of the teams at the tournament.
It was a nervy win in a rain-interrupted Super Eight match in North Sound which was essentially a quarter-final, with South Africa losing wickets regularly in pursuit of the 123 needed for victory in 17 overs via the DLS method. In fact, the biggest partnership for the Proteas was the 35-run stand between Tristan Stubbs (29) and Heinrich Klaasen (22).
It meant it was left to allrounder Marco Jansen (21) and bowler Kagiso Rabada (5) to take SA to victory, after Keshav Maharaj (2) departed with just 10 balls remaining and 13 still needed for the win.
A cracking cover drive from Rabada and a six over long-on from Jansen sealed the three-wicket triumph with five balls to spare as the pair ended unbeaten against the West Indies.
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Markram said his side will take confidence from the narrow win.
“It’s a lot of relief to get through to the semi-final. We would have liked to be more convincing with bat in hand. After the rain break, the wicket was playing nicely. We did not get the partnerships to then kill the game,” said Markram.
“We tried to kill it [the chase] too early. [But it’s] massive for us and fantastic for the change room, but hopefully we can avoid those tricky situations [moving forward].”
Earlier, the Proteas attack did well to restrict the West Indies to 135/8. Tabraiz Shamsi was the pick of the bowlers with 3/27 in his four overs.
“I thought we bowled really well, assessed conditions and kept them to a sub-par total,” said Markram.
“We picked Shamsi, wanting to have a mystery spinner. We identified a possible opportunity. Wanted some spin in the powerplay and saw it turn. We wanted as much spin as possible (thereafter) and bowled many overs of spin.
“When KG [Rabada] only bowls two overs, it speaks of how the wicket played.”
As for who South Africa would prefer to play in their semi-final on Thursday, Markram had a stern warning.
“Whoever it might be, we have not played our best game of cricket yet, so we will try to put it together for the semi-final.”
Locked in for our last Super 8 fixture against the host West Indies 💪![CDATA[]]>🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦![CDATA[]]>🏏
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Shamsi, meanwhile, admitted to feeling the nerves while watching his batsmen chase down the target.
“I am sweating, and I was not even out there. It was quite nervy, but that has been the theme this World Cup. We have been finding ways to win and tonight was another one of those,” said Shamsi.
“The people out there, our supporters, would probably like bigger wins. But things like this, it keeps us in check. We have been able to overcome such [pressure] moments and that keeps us in good stead.”
It was an interesting call for Markram to include Shamsi in the clash, after the spinner was smashed for 50 runs in his four overs in the Proteas’ clash against the USA in their first Super Eight match.
Unsurprisingly Shamsi was more than pleased with his strong return to the team.
“The last time I played here, I went for 50 runs. I just had to back my plans, got the backing from the coaching staff to come back here, and happy I could play my role.”