Kingstown (St Vincent): South Africa survived an upset in a low-scoring thriller played at Arnos Vale Ground, Kingstown on Saturday and defeated Nepal by one run.
Nepal won the toss in the match and opted to bowl anticipating that the bowling-friendly conditions would play in their favour. Reeza Hendricks looked solid from the start but wickets kept falling from the other end. Quinton de Kock departed after scoring just 10 runs but Reeza (43) and Aiden Markram joined forces after that to add 46 runs for the second wicket. The scoreboard was 68/2 after the wicket of Markram but South Africa never got going after that and ended the innings with 115/7 courtesy of Tristian Stubbs's 27-run knock in the lower order. Kushal Bhurtel picked four wickets while Dipendra Singh Airee scalped three wickets.
Chasing the target Aasif Sheikh (42) was the highest run-scorer for Nepal. The team needed 18 runs from the last three overs with Aasif well settled on the crease. However, Tabraiz Shamsi came with a game-changing over taking two wickets including the prized scalp of Aasif and conceding just two runs. Nepal were now in need of 16 runs from the last two overs. Anrich Nortje also got a wicket in the penultimate over but a maximum from Sompal Kami kept Nepal alive in the chase.
When Eight runs were needed off just four balls, Gulshan Jha hit a four and the batting side were heading for an easy chase soon with two runs from two balls. However, a mix-up on the last ball and an underarm throw from Heinrich Klaasen kept Nepal two runs short of the target. Tabraiz Shamsi was the pick of the bowlers taking four wickets.
Read More
