Cricket – Skipper Aiden Markram smacked 86 not out off 44 balls as South Africa beat New Zealand by seven wickets at the T20 World Cup on Saturday.
Markram’s innings included four sixes and eight fours and underlined a dominant performance by the Proteas, as they won with 2.5 overs to spare.
South Africa finished with 178-3 in reply to New Zealand’s 175-7 after left-arm pacer Marco Jansen picked 4-40 in four overs.
It was New Zealand’s first defeat in the tournament, while South Africa moved one step closer to the next round with three successive wins in Group D.
In Kolkata, England rebounded with a five-wicket win over Scotland thanks to Tom Banton’s 63 not out off 41 balls.
In the morning game at Colombo, Ireland thumped Oman by 96 runs to record its first win in three games at this T20 World Cup. Oman became the first team to be eliminated from the competition.
A crowd in excess of 50,000 – the highest for this World Cup – watched South Africa power its way to a win against the Black Caps with relative ease.
England, desperately needing the victory following an unconvincing four-run win over Nepal and a loss to the West Indies, made 155-5 in 18.2 overs after the Scots were bowled out for just 152 in Kolkata.
Scotland wasted an ideal platform after getting to 90-3 in 10 overs, with the batters falling to mistimed sweep shots against the spinners.
England’s top-order batters Phil Salt, Jos Buttler and captain Harry Brook fell for single digits, but Banton put on 66 with Jacob Bethell (32) and 46 with Sam Curran (28) to lift the team to second in Group C behind West Indies. It next plays Italy on Monday.
Lorcan Tucker’s blistering unbeaten 94 off 51 balls earned Ireland its first win in the tournament as it crushed Oman in Group B. Tucker, leading the side after Paul Stirling was ruled out of the World Cup due to a knee injury, powered Ireland to this tournament’s highest score of 235-5. In reply, Oman was bowled out for 139 in 18 overs after losing the last eight wickets for just 42 runs.
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