T20 World Cup 2021: Match 13, Australia vs South Africa – Who Said What

The 13^th match of the T20 World Cup 2021 and the first one in the Super 12 stage took place between South Africa and Australia where Kangaroos won the low-scoring affair by five wickets. Aaron Finch won the toss and chose to invite the opposite side for batting first South Africa really couldn’t make the very best of their opportunity and got wrapped up on just 118 runs in 20 overs.

The opening stand also couldn’t shine for Proteas and they stumbled on 23/3. Aiden Markram’s 40 off 36 can be called as the only bright spot in South Africa’s batting lineup. The best thing about Australia’s bowling artillery turned out to be the success of each and every bowler involved in the game. Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Adam Zampa got two wickets each to their credit while Pat Cummins had the best economy (4.20) to offer in the day.

Marcus Stoinis and Matthew Wade take Australia over the line

Talking about the chase game of Australia, it didn’t start very well for them as they started losing early wickets. However, in the middle, a major contribution came in from Steve Smith who added in crucial 35 runs. However, SA gain momentum once again after dismissing him but Marcus Stoinis and Matthew Wade were back to the duties and pitched in with 24 and 15 runs to take Australia over the line. Anrich Nortje picked two wickets for his team and stood out to be the star bowler of the day.

Winning skipper, Aaron Finch said:

The dugout was relaxed than I was. Quite stressful, and I was nervous. Stoinis and Wade showed a cool head to get us over the line, and that is what a bit of experience can do. Maxwell did a really good job with the ball. We knew he had good matchups in the powerplay. Our whole bowling unit was outstanding. Ideally I would have loved to push Hazlewood for a third over in the powerplay. He is a world class bowler. He has accuracy and on a wicket providing variation, it can be tough. We understand that at different points guys need to rest and it gives others opportunities. We have some world class players back in our side now and experienced players count in a World Cup. SA are as good a fielding team as anyone in the world. They are quick, bowl with discipline. We needed a bit of luck to go our way and it did.

Losing skipper, Temba Bavuma said:

We always talk about us being resilient and there was opportunity. Big effort from the guys to get us to the last over. We just didn’t get enough with the bat and it was always going to be tough for the bowlers, and it was a good effort from them to get it to this stage. Australia bowled well. They assessed the length well and hit that back of a length. Their spinners too bowled tight. Aiden held the innings and got us to a decent total. As much as it was a day that didn’t go to plan, we can take positives. We showed fight. We spoke during the half time that we won’t give up.

Player of the match, Josh Hazlewood said:

 I think length was the key, anything full was easy to score. Hence, the length was crucial on this wicket. He (de Kock) is pretty good with that (ramp) shot, but unfortunately that short ball hit his glove and it popped up onto the stumps, was good to see the back of Quinny (de Kock). The wicket here is a bit slower in the day time, and the ball skids on nicely at night. The bowlers did a great job, Maxwell bowled well. It got closer towards the end, but we had the confidence in those guys (Wade and Stoinis), we knew they would get us over the finishing line.