South Africa will have no room for error as its world-class batters will be keen to flex their muscles against a spirited USA in its opening Super Eight match of the T20 World Cup 2024 here on Wednesday.
The Proteas have remained unbeaten in the tournament so far with their bowlers doing the heavy lifting in all four games.
Playing three games on the challenging New York tracks, and one in Kingstown, South Africa has not crossed the 120-run mark even once.
Although its batting performance is not a reflection of the team which possesses some big hitters like Quinton de Kock, Henriech Klassen, Tristan Stubbs and David Miller, the top order of De Kock, Reeze Hendricks and captain Aiden Markram might feel the pressure to perform.
South Africa survived by a run against Nepal in its previous game and with the likes of defending champion England and host West Indies also in Group 2, the Proteas can ill afford to let up against USA. They would like to start the Super Eight on a winning note.
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Ahead of the World Cup, South Africa’s biggest concern was the woeful form of Anrich Nortje, but the star pacer has turned it around with some scintillating display in the group stage and is currently the joint second leading wicket-taker with nine scalps.
Nortje and fellow pacer Ottneil Baartman, have formed a formidable pair, while Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada will also be eager to trouble the inexperienced USA batters.
Co-host USA, who are an eclectic mix of eight Indians, two Pakistanis, a West Indian, one New Zealander, a South African and a Dutch, are in the midst of a dream run having qualified for the Super Eights in their debut appearance.
It has played an aggressive brand of cricket and will be keeping an eye on the fitness of skipper Monank Patel, who missed the match against India, and was also not going to play against Ireland due to a niggle.
It will be keen to cause another upset after defeating former champion Pakistan in the league stage. While it may be a daunting task, the spirited bunch are ready for the challenge.
“Definitely looking forward to the challenge (of Super Eight) for sure. Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve shown that obviously we could definitely compete and beat some of the full member nations,” USA vice-captain Aaron Jones had said last week.
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