South Africa, England reach T20 World Cup semi-finals
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA (AFP) - South Africa edged the West Indies by three wickets in a rain-affected Super Eights match on Sunday to reach the T20 World Cup semi-finals and eliminate the hosts.
Chasing a revised 123 off 17 overs, South Africa stuttered to 110-7 as Roston Chase took three wickets, but they reached their target when Marco Jansen hit the first ball of the final over for six. Man of the match Tabraiz Shamsi took 3-27 after South Africa won the toss and restricted the West Indies to 135-8 at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua. All-rounder Chase top scored with 52, featuring in an 81-run third-wicket partnership with Kyle Mayers (35 off 34 balls) before giving the West Indies hope by taking 3-12 with his off-spin.
Jansen's unbeaten 21 saw the Proteas to victory at 124-7 when he smashed the final six off Obed McCoy. "The last time I played here I went for 50 runs and there was a lot of chatter going around," said Shamsi. "I was happy to come back and perform my role, but credit as well to the guys who bowled before me because they set it up beautifully."
Brought in for seamer Ottneil Baartman, the left-arm wrist-spinner got excellent support from fellow slow bowlers Keshav Maharaj (1-24) and captain Aiden Markram (1-28). Chase was dropped on 11 by Anrich Nortje and made the most of his luck, clearing the ropes twice and hitting three fours. His partnership with Mayers helped rescue the hosts after they fell to 5-2 in the second over.
Once Shamsi removed Mayers to a sliced catch at deep cover, a steady stream of wickets enabled South Africa to restrict the West Indies. With the score on 117-6, Nortje made amends for his earlier error with a direct hit to run out the dangerous Andre Russell who had hit two sixes in his 15 off nine balls.
England thrash USA to reach semis
Chris Jordan took four wickets in five balls, including the third hat-trick of the T20 World Cup, as defending champions England qualified for the semi-finals with a 10-wicket thrashing of the United States in his native Barbados on Sunday.
The 35-year-old all-rounder, born and educated on the Caribbean island, justified his recall for this match in spectacular fashion with the remarkable figures of 4-10 in 2.5 overs as the United States were dismissed for 115.
England captain Jos Buttler then led from the front in a blistering chase with an unbeaten 83, featuring five sixes in an over from Harmeet Singh, as his side raced to their target in a mere 9.4 overs.
By winning so quickly, England secured a place in the last four, regardless of the outcome of Sunday's final Group Two Super Eights match between co-hosts the West Indies and South Africa in Antigua and any associated net run-rate calculations.
Buttler faced just 38 balls, including six fours and seven sixes, but the day belonged to Jordan, whose hat-trick was the third of this tournament, with Australia's Pat Cummins achieving the feat against both Bangladesh and Afghanistan, and the first by an England bowler in any men's T20 international.
The United States, one of the surprise packages of the event after defeating Pakistan on their way to the second round, were 115-6 when Jordan came onto bowl the 19th over. His first ball of the over saw Corey Anderson hit a fast and low full toss to Harry Brook at long-on as the former New Zealand all-rounder fell for 29.
Two balls later, paceman Jordan clean bowled Ali Khan for a duck, the off-stump knocked out of the ground. Next ball Nosthush Kenjige was plumb lbw and Jordan then completed his hat-trick -- and ended the innings -- by bowling Saurabh Netravalkar between bat and pad to remove the last man's middle stump.
The United States were relatively well-placed at 48-2 at the end of the six-over powerplay. But leg-spinner Adil Rashid then bowled two excellent googlies to dismiss Aaron Jones and Nitish Kumar, whose 30 was the highest score of the innings, in a miserly haul of 2-13.
England started their reply knowing victory in 17.4 overs would see them advance to the semi-finals regardless of events elsewhere. Buttler signalled his intentions early on with an extraordinary 104-metre six before Mumbai-born left-arm spinner Singh then felt the full force of his bat. England must now wait another 24 hours to discover the identity of their semi-final opponents.
