Anrich Nortje spells doom for Sri Lanka
New York, June 3
Anrich Nortje demolished Sri Lanka with a career-best figures as South Africa exploited the bounce on offer to secure a six-wicket win in their T20 World Cup opener here today.
At a venue where India will play three of their four Group A league matches, Sri Lanka’s decision to bat first backfired.
51 In total, South Africa and Sri Lanka scored 51 runs in their respective powerplays, the third lowest powerplay aggregate at T20 World Cups
1 Ottneil Baartman became the first South African to take a World Cup wicket with his
first tournament delivery
ICC announces record prize purse
The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced a record prize purse of $11.25 million for the 2024 T20 World Cup with the winners pocketing at least $2.45 million. The runners-up will receive at least $1.28 million, while the losing semifinalists walk away with $787,500 each. The last edition had a total prize pool of $5.6 million. PTI
Nortje (4/7), Kagiso Rabada (2/21) and Keshav Maharaj (2/22) combined to take eight wickets in a dominant bowling performance as Sri Lanka folded for 77 in 19.1 overs, their lowest T20 total.
But it was not a walk in the park for South Africa either. In the challenging conditions of Nassau Stadium, the Proteas had to sweat it out after Sri Lanka reduced them to 27/2 inside the powerplay.
Sri Lankan wrist-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga led their bowling show with his 2/17 from three overs, taking the wickets of Quinton de Kock (20) and Tristan Stubbs (13) in successive overs.
But the lack of scoreboard pressure meant South Africa knocked off the target in 16.2 overs to give a major boost to their net run-rate (NRR).
South Africa now have two points with a NRR of 1.048 to lead the Group D standings. Bangladesh, Nepal and the Netherlands are the other teams in the group.
The in-form Heinrich Klaasen smashed Hasaranga for a massive six over long-on and followed it up with a straight boundary to bring up 11 runs in the 15th over and virtually kill the contest.
Brief scores: Sri Lanka: 77 all out in 19.1 overs (Kusal 19; Nortje 4/7, Maharaj 2/22); South Africa: 80/4 in 16.2 overs (de Kock 20, Klaasen 19* ; Hasaranga 2/22). — PTI
Dravid confirms exit after T20 WC
New York: Rahul Dravid today confirmed that the T20 World Cup will be his last tournament as head coach of the Indian cricket team. Dravid’s announcement was anticipated as he was not expected to reapply for the high-profile job after the BCCI invited the applications last month.
Speaking to the reporters ahead of India’s opener against Ireland, Dravid said he enjoyed every bit of his coaching tenure.
“Every tournament is important. Every game that I’ve coached for India has been very important for me. So for me this is no different just because it is going to be the last one that I’m in charge of,” he said when asked if this tournament held more significance as it was his last one in charge of the team.
The former India captain had taken charge in November 2021 following the T20 World Cup that year. “I love doing the job. I’ve really enjoyed coaching India and I think it’s a truly special job to do. I enjoyed working with this team and it’s a great bunch of boys to work with but yeah but just considering you know unfortunately the just the kind of schedules and where I find myself in the stage in my life I don’t think I’ll be able to reapply.
