CHENNAI: Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in St Lucia is supposed to be one of the highest-scoring grounds in this tournament. While batters struggled to score runs at places like New York and Trinidad, Gros Islet has been the batters' paradise. the lowest first innings total this ground had seen in the T20 World Cup before the fixture between England and South Africa was 180 — scored by Scotland against Australia and West Indies versus England.
The chasing sides won on both occasions. So ahead of the Engalnd-South Africa match on Friday, the calculation for whoever batted first was simple: score 200+ runs to have a chance. For that to be achieved, at least one of the top-order batters had to go all out scoring runs at a brisk pace and others supporting him without consuming a lot of deliveries.
Once England captain Jos Buttler and decided to field, there were a few doubts whether the South African opening duo was up for the task. And why not? After five fixtures in the ongoing tournament, South African openers had put on just 59 runs together on the board. While the opening duos from Afghanistan and Australia were operating on the 'go big or go home' principle with their batting in the powerplay after five fixtures, Quinton de Kock and Reeza Hendricks were averaging 11.
80 as a pair before Friday. With England crawling back their way and looking their dominant best, South Africa's task got even harder. They needed De Kock and Hendricks to get going.
A perfect powerplay,.
