South Africa beat England in last-over thriller

South Africa maintained their unbeaten streak in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 Super 8s with a nail-biting seven-run victory over England in a last-over thriller in St Lucia. With their second consecutive win in the Super 8 stage, South Africa step closer to securing a spot in the semi-finals. South Africa managed to dismiss the top three, way before the halfway mark in the chase. The pacers started well, with Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen troubling the batters for runs. Rabada got rid of Phil Salt (11) and then Keshav Maharaj compounded the pressure with quick wickets of Jonny Bairstow (16) and Jos Buttler (17).

South Africa's efforts in the fielding were top-drawer, to say the least. Mooen Ali was the next to depart as Ottneil Baartman dismissed him for 9. With England reeling at 61 for 4 after 10.2 over, Harry Brook joined hands with Liam Livingstone for a superb 78-run stand. Brook scored a brilliant fifty while Livingstone departed for 33 after taking down Baartman. Baartman completely missed his lengths to concede 21 runs, starting with three full tosses that were eagerly capitalized on by the batsmen.

The South African batting line-up faltered after a strong start by Quinton de Kock as England bowlers restricted the Aiden Markram-led side to 163 for six in the Super 8 match. Quinton de Kock continued his superb run with the bat for South Africa, playing a blazing 68-run knock off 35 balls, including four boundaries and four sixes. De Kock's aggressive batting took the scoring rate to nearly 10 runs per over for the first half of the innings. However, England's disciplined bowling and sharp fielding efforts ensured regular wickets, stifling the Proteas' momentum.

De Kock launched a brutal assault on the English bowlers, particularly targeting Jofra Archer. The South African opener collected 21 runs off Archer in a single over, utilizing the pacer's speed to flick a six over fine leg and smash powerful hits to midwicket. Despite his aggressive start, De Kock found little support from the other end.

England's breakthrough came in the 10th over when Reeza Hendricks, struggling for momentum, attempted to charge down Moeen Ali, only to be caught by Harry Brook. Heinrich Klaasen's promotion in the batting order did not work out for South Africa as an alert Jos Buttler affected a superb run-out. Archer, initially on the receiving end of De Kock's onslaught, had his revenge with the help of a stunning catch by Jos Buttler. De Kock's attempt to cut a short ball was brilliantly intercepted by Buttler, diving to his left.