The Proteas celebrates as they had their first World Cup match win
After three consecutive losses and one match ending with no result, South Africa finally won their first ICC Cricket World Cup match against Afghanistan last Saturday.
Although rain interrupted their game twice which cut the match to 48 overs per side, South Africa started their turn of the match well. Proteas batsman Hashim Amla and wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock got 104 on the first wicket.
However, Afghanistan captain Gulbadin Naib had de Kock caught by all-rounder Mohammad Nabi.
This was unexpected since Afghanistan had batsman Hazratullah Zazai and Noor Ali Zadran get 39 runs for their first wicket. South African leg spin bowler Imran Tahir bowled Zadran for 32 with his first ball and then caught Afghanistan batsman Asghar Afghan’s bowling.
Nabi then lost his wicket in the space of seven balls when he was bowled out by Phehlukwayo. Afghanistan leg spin bowler Rashid Khan was able to raise the score to 125 when he struck 35 from 25 balls with six fours.
Meanwhile, Proteas fast bowler Andile Phehlukwayo and Amla took South Africa’s scores over the line when they reached their revised target of 127 with 116 balls remaining. Tahir then took four wickets which pushed Afghanistan’s score into 125.
South Africa won by 9 wickets using the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method. Tahir was named player of the match.
“I really enjoyed that, really pleased,” said Tahir in an interview after their match. “It was important for me to take that role for the team. I have been working very hard and it’s nice to have that first victory.”
“We were up for it, we can’t control the weather but the bowling group did well. My plan was to bowl my variations and get batsman to make their mistakes. It came out well,” continued Tahir. “As long as I take wickets, I’ll keep on celebrating.”
South Africa will play their next match against New Zealand on Wednesday at Edgbaston. The Proteas currently have +118 odds to win the game while the Black Caps have -139 odds.
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