The South African bowler Anrich Nortje has recorded his best bowling spell as he picked up four wickets and conceded only 7 runs during the T20 World Cup 2024 match against Sri Lanka in Group B on June 03 at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium.
He was named as the Player of the Match after his impressive spell with an economy of 01.80. While Speaking in the post-match conference he said, “Definitely, this will get some momentum going. Tough few days, we’ve worked hard and it’s nice to get some momentum. Very happy, I’ve been feeling good from the last few games, finally great to have a good game and get a few wickets.”
“The guys did well to restrict them to a low score. Been a while since I got many wickets and was happy to be helpful in the team’s win. We needed to assess as quickly as possible (on the conditions), it was up and down at times (on the wicket), and I needed to hit my straps, hit the wicket hard, it was important that we got some early wickets.”
“It was a tough one, practicing on these drop-in wickets is hard, we weren’t able to bowl on the pitch on the pre-match day, the plans were simple, that helped me, I just need to get my rhythm better in the next few games,” he concluded.
Coming to the match, Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat where Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis opened the innings and Ottneil Baartman bagged the wicket of Nissanka for three runs.
Nortje dismissed Kusal Mendis and Kamindu Mendis for 19 and 11 runs respectively. With Maharaj dismissing Hasaranga and Samarawickrama for duck, Sri Lanka lost five wickets for scoring 40 runs.
Nortje dismissed Asalanka and Angelo Mathews for 6 and 19 runs creating havoc in the middle order. With Theekshana’s 7* runs, Sri Lanka scored 77, losing all 10 wickets in the last over.
With the target of 78 runs, Quinton de Kock and Reeza Hendricks opened the innings for South Africa, but a delivery from Thushara broke the partnership of the openers and dismissed Hendricks for four runs.
Shanaka bagged the wicket of Aiden Markram for 12 runs and by the end of power play, South Africa scored 27 runs losing two wickets. Hasaranga picked the wickets of Quinton de Kock and Tristan Stubbs for 20 and 13 runs respectively.
With a 19* runs knock from Heinrich Klaasen, South Africa scored 80 runs for four wickets in the 17th over to win the match by 6 wicket difference.
