Welcome to the coverage of the T20 World Cup 2021 Super 12 match between Englnd and South Africa. This was Aashin Prasad bringing you all the action as it unfolded at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium .
Here's how the final table looks like in Group 1:
A word on Rabada though. He conceded 45 runs from his first 3 overs, before taking a hat-trick and conceding just 3 runs in his final over.
England and Australia are Group 1's semifinalists , while S. Africa gave it a good fight but it bows it in a characteristic fashion at a World Cup: out on NRR. S. Africa will wonder what could have been had it chased down the 85-run target quiker than what it did.
South Africa wins by 10 runs, England loses for the first time in the tournament.
14 needed from the final over. Rabada's turn to finish as a hero tonight after a torrid three overs so far. WICKET! Slower ball and Woakes looks to go big over deep mid0wicket where Nortje takes a welljudged catch by the boundary line. Morgan will be on strike. WICKET! Is that the game? Another slower ball, and Morgan looks to swing it to the leg side boundary, where Maharaj takes a simple catch. WICKET! Can you believe it? It's a hat-trick. Jordan smacks the ball straight into the hands of the long off fielder. Rabada is laughing and can't believe it. One more wicket left for England with Roy gone off injured. ENG: 179/8 in 20 overs
WICKET! Pretorius strikes again, slower ball and Livingstone looks to club it over the long off but only ends up hoing out to Miller.Woakes comes in. He bowls a no-ball... Free hit coming up with Woakes on strike. Slower ball and Woakes tonks it over long off for a huge six! Morgan scampers for a two of the final delivery. ENG: 176/5 in 19 overs
Nortje for his final over. Just two singles to begin the over. The field is up on the offside and Morgan pierces it with a cut shot for a much-needed boundary. Nortje cramps Morgan for room, but he opens the face of the bat and uses the pace to guide it to third for a four. ENG: 165/4 in 18 overs
WICKET! Pretorius gets the wicket of Malan, who skies a catch to short third. Morgan comes in and sweeps a wide full toss to the leg side for a boundary. Livingstone finishes the over with another four to the offside. ENG: 155/4 in 17 overs
From 71 neded off 31, England now needs 46 from 24.
Rabada returns and Livingstone tonks it out of Sharjah. Dale Steyn on comms says "I didn't see it land". 112 metres -- biggest six of the tournament. Rabada has been made to look so oridnary on this deck today. Another six and it's on the roof this time. South Africa is out of the tournament and Australia is through to the semis. In the slot again, and Livingstone goes straight for another six! Four sixes in a row from England. ENG: 144/3 in 16 overs
Pretorius on for his first. 15 more runs and South Africa will be out of the tournament. Livingstone struggling to get going so far.. Malan gives room and smashes it over long off for a six. ENG: 125/3 in 15 overs
Bavuma brings Nortje back. Kitchen sink stuff. Malan walks to the offside and flicks a full delivery behind square for a boundary. Just 5 from it. ENG: 117/3 in 14 overs
Oh my, Moeen... He dances down the track to Shamsi and smashes him out of the ground. 102m! WICKET! Moeen goes again but he holes out to the long on fielder. Shamsi lets out a roar but it may be too late for SA's semifinals hopes now.. 27-ball 37 from Moeen. Livingstone is in. Shamsi is bowled out. ENG: 112/3 in 13 overs
Markram returns. Moeen goes inside out and launches the ball over the wide long off for a six. He then flat bats a fierce hit past the diving bowler and long off fieder for a four. 100 comes up for England. 15 runs from the over. ENG: 104/2 in 12 overs
Shamsi to continue and Malan reverse sweeps it behind short third for a two. A superb leg-spinner draws an edge from Malan and ends up beating thr fielder inside the circle and the batters run three. Single from Moeen and England has qualified for the semifinals from Group 1. ENG 89/2 in 11 overs
Drinks break taken.
Bavuma brings back Rabada. Unlucky for Rabada as Malan squeezes a yorker behind for a boundary. Malan follows it up with a beautiful cover drive for another four. ENG: 81/2 in 10 overs
Shamsi for his second. Moeen smacks a fulltoss to the leg side for a boundary. Pressure eased with that. Finsihes the over with 2 dots. SA: 70/2 in 9 overs
Markram's spin introduced. Good start from the part-time offie, conceding just 3 runs. South Africa has pulled things back a bit in the last 3 overs. ENG: 64/2 in 8 overs
Shamsi to begin after the PP overs. WICKET! He has Bairstow caught leg before and the umpire gives it out. Bairstow reviews it immediately.. No bat involved and the ball is hitting the wicket. England loses the review and is effectively 59/3 with Roy going off injured. Malan is the new man in. ENG: 61/2 in 7 overs
Nortje comes on and Buttler smashes him over deep mid-wicket for a six! Australia players and their fans will be cheering on England at the moment. WICKET! Buttler looks to clear mid off but could only hit it straight to Bavuma. SA can breathe easy for the moment... Bairstow is the new man in. Nortje finishes well after being hit for six first ball. ENG: 59/1 in 6 overs
Maharaj for his third and Roy goes down wincing after the first ball. Hands on his face as the physio tends to Roy. Doesn't look too good for him. Roy is not happy as he seems to have pulled his hamstring. Tom Curran comes over to help him off the field. Moeen Ali is the new batter. Ali slashes the ball over the covers for a four and it's a no-ball... Oh dear.. Nortje drops Ali's skier off the free hit which allows England to run two. ENG: 50/0 in 5 overs
Rabada comes on and Buttler punches the ball between the offside field for a four. A full delivery now and Buttler hacks it to the leg side for another four. Poor from Rabada as he drifts on the legs of Roy, who clips it behind for a third four of the over. 15 from the over. ENG: 37/0 in 4 overs
Maharaj continues and Roy danced down to loft it into the leg side for a two-bounce four. Roy goes on the back foot and swivels to pull it square for another four. 10 from the over. ENG: 22/0 in 3 overs
Nortje shares the new ball. Nortje raps Roy on the pad and the umpire turns down the appeals. After a wait, Bavuma opts to review. Ball tracker shows it missing the stumps and SA loses a review. Roy walks down the track and drives a full length delivery past mid off for a four. Buttler's turn as he lofts the ball over mid off for his first boundary. ENG: 12/0 in 2 overs
England needs to score 87 runs to reach the semis and 106 to finish top of the group.
Back for the chase. Jason Roy and Jos Buttler at the middle. Keshav Maharaj takes the new ball. Just 2 singles from the over as Roy and Buttler play their way in. ENG: 2/0 in 1 over
ENGLAND INNINGS
So, if South Africa restrict England to under 131, then South Africa and England will be the semifinalists from Group 1.
The South Africa batters have done the job. Markram and van der Dussen put on 103 off just 52 balls to give SA a big total on board. Now time for the bowlers to step up.
Jordan begins the final over with a yorker, which is squirted out for a single. Markram moves to fifty off 24 balls and he gets there with his fourth six of the innings. RVD nails a slower delivery to long on where the ball just clears the fielder. He is seven short of 100 but just a ball to go... Rassie van der Dussen finishes on 94 off 60 balls. SA: 189/2 in 20 overs
Wood for the penultimate over. RVD gives strike to Markram, who launches a pull to the long boundary on the leg side for a six! Markram has moved to 44 off 22 balls.. RVD pushes the ball to the leg side to finish the over with two twos. SA: 173/2 in 19 overs
Jordan for the 18th. Some sloppy fielding from England allows SA to steal two extra runs in what is a good over so far from Jordan. Five from four balls. Brilliant from RVD, he goes down on a knee and scoops it over short third for a four. He moves to 82 off 55 balls. SA: 160/2 in 18 overs
Wood to bowl his third. RVD is 24 short of his 100. Brilliant from Markram, who is followed by Wood to the leg side, but he somehow manages to slice the ball over the close in fielders on the offside to score a boundary. A mistimed pull by Markram but the ball lands safely and they scamper for a two. He ends the over with a powerful cut to the deep cover for another boundary. SA 150/2 in 17 overs
Woakes on for his final over. Van der Dussen welcomes him with a flat-batted shot straight over the bowler's head for a six! Fourth six of the innings for RVD. Full on the legs and RVD flicks it over mid-wicket for another six! 6, 6, 2 at the start of the 16th. Blimey! A superb pick-up shot from Markram to a full toss on the offside and the ball lands over long for another six. 21 from from the over. SA 139/2 in 16 overs
Jordan comes on. Good start from the over from Jordan. Van Der Dussen looking to scoop the ball to both behind third anf fine leg but has failed to connect on both occasions. Just four from the over. SA: 118/2 in 15 overs
Rashid on for his last over. Markram arrives to the party, dances down the track and smacks Rashid over wide long on for a six! 11 from the over. SA: 114/2 in 14 overs
Van Der Dussen reaches his fifty off 37 balls with a quick single, a direct hit would have caught Markram short. Wood bowling short and at pace so far making it difficult for the batters to get going here... Anoher short ball but VDD is waiting for it, and launches into a quick pull to deposit the ball into the stands for a six! SA: 103/2 in 13 overs
Rashid continues. WICKET! De Kock holes out in the deep, where Jason Roy completes a well-judged low catch running to his right. The batter mistimed that lofted drive and paid the price. Big wicket for England. Aiden Markram is the new man in. SA: 91/2 in 12 overs
Mark Wood up for his first over. Starts with a 151kph delivery to van der Dussen who gets a single. QDK quickly gets off strike with another single. Top shot from Rassie! He uses Wood's pace off the deck and scoops him over the keeper for four. Wood nearly snaps Rassie. A fiery bumper onto the ribs and van der Dussen gets a leading edge on it that falls short of cover. SA: 85/1 in 11 overs
de Kock continues to execute the reverse-sweep to perfection. Rashid loops one in on the length and de Kock sweeps him past point for another four. SA: 73/1 in 10 overs
Jordan replaces Moeen. Jordan rushes in on the length and the batters resort to singles. Jordan hits Dussen's pads as he shimmies down and shuffles across while finding a single through square leg. Jordan appeals and England takes another review. That's close! Umpire's call on impact as Rassie steps way down the ground. A brave review there from England. Jordan strays to the pads and Rassie tickles it fine for four. 50-partnership between van der Dussen and de kock. SA: 65/1 in 9 overs
Rashid into the attack. van der Dussen brings out the reverse sweep this time. He beats backward point and the ball races for four. England loses a review. Rashid tosses one up on the full and Rassie attempts to sweep. He misses the ball that skids through below the bat to Buttler who goes up to appeal. No spike in the replay and van der Dussen stays. SA: 56/1 in 8 overs
Moeen to bowl out. Reverse sweep scoop from de Kock to take it over short third for a boundary. Impressive from Moeen again: 4-0-27-1 SA: 48/1 in 7 overs
Woakes again and Van Der Dussen swings hard and gets a thick inside edge down to fine leg, where it beats Rashid's dive for a four. Woakes's two full deliveries have been punished by VDD. Another fuller delivery and VDD smacks it high up down to the mid wicket region for a six! Good end to the PP for SA; 4 from the over. SA: 40/1 in 6 overs
Third over for Moeen. Moeen doing the job well here, not giving the reqyired for the batters to get under. Just five singles from it. SA 26/1 in 5 overs
Van Der Dussen paddles a full delivery over the short fine leg for a boundary. That was just his second delivery faced. Woakes responds with 4 successive dots. The batters run a tight single off the last ball but de Kock makes it at the striker's end. SA 21/1 in 4 overs
Moeen continues and de Kock comes down the wicket to smash it over mid off for a four. WICKET! Moeen bowls Hendricks, who looks to slog sweep a straight delivery and misses it. Van Der Dussen is the new batter. SA 16/1 in 3 overs
Woakes shares the new ball. Woakes with a short of good length line and Hendricks and de Kock playing the ball on merit thus far. Just three from the over. SA: 9/0 in 1 over
Moeen Ali has the new ball and will open the bowling to de Kock and Hendricks. Hendricks off the mark with a single to long on. De Kock plays an inside out aerial cover drive for the first boundary of the game. SA: 6/0 in 1 over
South Africa innings
Both S. Africa and England players take the knee.
The players walk out for the national anthems.
Playing XIs
England: Jason Roy, Jos Buttler (wk), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan (c), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Chris Jordan, Mark Wood, Adil Rashid
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma (c), David Miller, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi
7:04 pm: TOSS: Eoin Morgan wins toss, England will bowl first vs South Africa.
6.55 pm: Righto. JUST IN: Australia has beaten West Indies by 8 wickets with 20 balls to spare, which takes its NRR to +1.216. This means, South Africa will have to beat England by 57 runs or chase 160 in 12.5 overs to overtake Australia on NRR into second.
6.40 pm: Just 20 minutes until the toss and team news. I had mentioned earlier that England could still be knocked out but it's a very, very slim probability. It will have to beaten by a huge (!) margin.
6.24 pm: Meanwhile, David Warner and Mitchell Marsh are coasting in Australia's chase of 158 against the West Indies. The required rate is a run-a-ball for the Aussies with nine wickets in hand. A victory for Australia means South Africa's task will get harder and will have to record a more than emphatic win.
6.17 pm: Nasser Hussain on the Sky Sports pitch report says, it's a skiddy pitch in Sharjah, much like it was against New Zealand vs Namibia yesterday. Bowling on good length will keep the batters guessing because of the low bounce, than a fuller length, says Hussain.
6.05 pm: These two teams have several close encounters since their first meeting in 2007 in the format. In the first 17 meetings until 2017, South Africa led the H2H record with 8 wins to England's six. However, England has overtaken its rival during the 5-1 thrashing handed to the host late last year. In fact, England has won the last 5 meetings.
Top performers of the fixture (Overall)
Hello. What if I told you Group 1 leader, England, could still be eliminated from the Super 12 stages of the tournament? Before we get to that, let's keep an eye on what's happening at Abu Dhabi, where Australia needs to beat West Indies in its final group game. LIVE BLOG
ENG vs SA Head to Head
Span: 2007-2021
Matches: 21
Won: England - 11, South Africa 9, NR - 1
In T20 WCs: England - 2, South Africa - 3
MATCH PREVIEW
South Africa will look to enter the T20 World Cup semifinals by defeating in-form England here on Saturday.
With a net run rate of +3.183, England is more or less through to the semifinals with four wins from as many games, while South Africa lies third with six points from four matches. South Africa and Australia are in a close race for the second semifinal spot from Group 1 but the Australians are ahead in the points table on the basis of a better net run-rate. South Africa will need to win by a big margin against England to go over Australia on net run-rate or hope West Indies beats Australia by a margin that reduces Australia’s net run-rate.
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South Africa will get a clearer idea of what it needs to do to qualify as Australia plays West Indies in the first match of the day.
With form on its side, an ominous-looking England will start as firm favourite, however. While all their matches haven’t been one-sided, the Englishmen were clinical in their approach in the four games they have played so far.
In-form batters
England’s batting revolves around Jos Buttler, Jason Roy, Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow and skipper Eoin Morgan, all of whom have been among the runs. Buttler achieved two personal milestones in the last match when he scored his maiden T20 century (101 not out of 67 balls).
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The big-hitter would be high on confidence and looking for an encore.
On the bowling front, the spin duo of Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid as well as the pace trio of Chris Woakes, Chris Jordan and Liam Livingstone have been excellent so far. England will miss the services of left-arm pacer Tymal Mills as he has been ruled out of the tournament due to a right thigh strain suffered in its last match.
Even though it managed to win three matches on the trot, South Africa’s campaign has been far from impressive. It wilted under pressure against Australia and Temba Bavuma’s men can ill-afford to repeat the mistakes against England.
South Africa will depend on Quinton de Kock, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma and David Miller to deliver the goods in the batting department, while the bowling unit will be led by top-ranked T20 bowler Tabraiz Shamsi with Anrich Nortje and Dwaine Pretorious in support.
WHERE TO WATCH TODAY'S MATCH?
The T20 World Cup 2021 match between England and South Africa will be aired live on the Star Sports Network at 7:30pm IST. The online live streaming will be available on Disney+ Hotstar .
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