DALE Steyn’s face curled into a strange smile after Nathan McCullum clouted him to the cover boundary in the last over of South Africa’s World T20 match against New Zealand in Chittagong yesterday.
Two balls later, SA had won by two runs to keep their WT20 hopes alive. How, no one could say. But we know why Steyn was smiling: when you’re as nuts as he is, fantasy is reality.
“Dale Steyn proved why he has been the world’s best bowler for such a long period of time,” said Faf du Plessis.
“As a captain, to have a guy like that in your team makes anything possible. New Zealand got themselves into a position where they should have won. Something special was going to be required to take it away from them. Dale did just that.”
When Steyn’s smile first twisted, the Black Caps needed three runs off the two balls. Defeat for SA would have all but ended their campaign. What the hell did Steyn have to smile about?
McCullum slapped the next delivery waist-high to extra cover. Du Plessis dived on a wing and held on to the catch on a prayer. Steyn’s smile spread wider.
The batsmen had crossed. Ross Taylor, who had looked every inch the captain in command in scoring 62 not out (off 37 balls), was on strike.
Now, three runs were needed off the last ball. Steyn steamed in and pitched the fateful death ray on off-stump.
Taylor swung from the heels but could only thunk the ball into the pitch. Steyn did the fielding and ran into the outfield, his eyes as ablaze as the LED-armed bails he had dislodged at the non-striker’s end for the run-out. As he did so, his smile shape-shifted into a roar.
Out of nowhere, Steyn had bowled SA to victory with his haul of 4/17. SA were able to total 170/6 yesterday because Hashim Amla hung tough and JP Duminy let fly. Amla’s 41 off 40 balls kept the innings intact after Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers were dismissed with 42 runs scored.
Duminy’s aggression and Amla’s work ethic was an alloy the Black Caps could not break until the 14th over. They needed a moment of alchemy to do so. Amla drove Corey Anderson hard, straight and in the air.
Duminy took evasive action, but the ball struck his bat and popped up for Anderson to catch and end a stand of 55.
Duminy stayed to hammer an unbeaten 86, scoring 16 of the 17 SA took off the 17th over, 15 of the 17 that came off the 19th, and 10 of the 13 that flowed off the 20th.
“As a blueprint for how to play an innings in a game like this, you won’t find much better,” said Du Plessis.
In the other match yesterday Sri Lanka crushed the Netherlands by nine wickets after bowling their rivals out for the lowest-ever World Twenty20 total of 39 in Chittagong. Ajantha Mendis (3/12), Angelo Mathews (3/16) and Lasith Malinga (2/5) wrecked their opponents in 10.3 overs, before Lanka knocked off the target in just five overs.
Steyn pulls the fat out of the fire
Two balls later, SA had won by two runs to keep their WT20 hopes alive. How, no one could say. But we know why Steyn was smiling: when you’re as nuts as he is, fantasy is reality.
“Dale Steyn proved why he has been the world’s best bowler for such a long period of time,” said Faf du Plessis.
“As a captain, to have a guy like that in your team makes anything possible. New Zealand got themselves into a position where they should have won. Something special was going to be required to take it away from them. Dale did just that.”
When Steyn’s smile first twisted, the Black Caps needed three runs off the two balls. Defeat for SA would have all but ended their campaign. What the hell did Steyn have to smile about?
McCullum slapped the next delivery waist-high to extra cover. Du Plessis dived on a wing and held on to the catch on a prayer. Steyn’s smile spread wider.
The batsmen had crossed. Ross Taylor, who had looked every inch the captain in command in scoring 62 not out (off 37 balls), was on strike.
Now, three runs were needed off the last ball. Steyn steamed in and pitched the fateful death ray on off-stump.
Taylor swung from the heels but could only thunk the ball into the pitch. Steyn did the fielding and ran into the outfield, his eyes as ablaze as the LED-armed bails he had dislodged at the non-striker’s end for the run-out. As he did so, his smile shape-shifted into a roar.
Out of nowhere, Steyn had bowled SA to victory with his haul of 4/17. SA were able to total 170/6 yesterday because Hashim Amla hung tough and JP Duminy let fly. Amla’s 41 off 40 balls kept the innings intact after Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers were dismissed with 42 runs scored.
Duminy’s aggression and Amla’s work ethic was an alloy the Black Caps could not break until the 14th over. They needed a moment of alchemy to do so. Amla drove Corey Anderson hard, straight and in the air.
Duminy took evasive action, but the ball struck his bat and popped up for Anderson to catch and end a stand of 55.
Duminy stayed to hammer an unbeaten 86, scoring 16 of the 17 SA took off the 17th over, 15 of the 17 that came off the 19th, and 10 of the 13 that flowed off the 20th.
“As a blueprint for how to play an innings in a game like this, you won’t find much better,” said Du Plessis.
In the other match yesterday Sri Lanka crushed the Netherlands by nine wickets after bowling their rivals out for the lowest-ever World Twenty20 total of 39 in Chittagong. Ajantha Mendis (3/12), Angelo Mathews (3/16) and Lasith Malinga (2/5) wrecked their opponents in 10.3 overs, before Lanka knocked off the target in just five overs.
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