A spirited half-century from captain Aiden Markram, followed by handy contributions from several others in the top 6 and a disciplined bowling effort propelled South Africa to an impressive 57-run win against Canada.
Markram got going in the Powerplay, but Quinton de Kock struggled with timing for most of his stay. In the 7th over, Canadian skipper Dilpreet Bajwa sent him back but Ryan Rickelton would keep the score level.
The Proteas head honcho reached his 50 off 28 deliveries but could not add much more as he gapped to long-on off Ansh Patel. The young left-arm wrist spinner would take another two wickets as Rickelton retreated soon afterwards and the dangerous Dewald Brevis fell cheaply.
However, that was all the success for the Canadian bowlers. The returning David Miller and Tristan Stubbs both celebrated their comebacks with quick 30s to end the innings and push their team past the 200 threshold. More than 70 runs were added in the last six overs, and there was no respite for the inexperienced bowling unit.
The momentum was with SA as Lungi Ngidi burst open the Canadian top order with 3 wickets in his first two overs. Things went from bad to worse for the men in red as Kagiso Rabada overthrew Shreyas Movva.
But it wasn’t all doom and gloom as Navneet Dhaliwal and Harsh Thaker put up a brilliant 69-run stand to revive the innings. The asking rate was out of control but both right-handers impressed with multiple boundaries all over the ground. It all came to an end when Ngidi returned and caught Thaker with a slower delivery, but Dhaliwal reached a respectable half-century.
From then on the innings lost steam as the other pacers returned and made more inroads at the death. Canada had too steep a mountain to climb and couldn’t fight enough with the bat. But all things considered, this World Cup will be a rewarding experience for the Associate teams, many of whom are no slouch.
The next match for the Proteas is against Afghanistan at the same venue in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
SA 213/4 in 20 overs (Markram 59, Miller 39*, Stubbs 34* – Ansh Patel 4-0-31-3)
CAN 156/8 in 20 overs (Dhaliwal 64, Thaker 33 – Ngidi 4-0-31-4, Jansen 4-0-30-2)
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