June 2024 – Bulletproof Truth

Jos Buttler and niceness, seven times removed

“We kind of went into a dwaal in the middle [overs] there.” – David Miller

Telford Vice / Cape Town

JOS Buttler seems, in the best way, nice. That’s a terrible thing to say about anyone. It damns them as insipid, unremarkable, a blunt knife, lacking in the stuff it takes to make it in the world. Still, even nice people shouldn’t be lumped with the lot left to Buttler during last year’s men’s World Cup.

There he sat, too many times more than is healthy, trying to explain why England were making an unmitigated mess of defending their title. Or trying not to explode in anger or implode in embarrassment. He did neither, of course. Nice guys don’t. They smile and use their words in measured tones, and ignore the barbs and brickbats along with the insinuations and innuendos that come with that tortuous territory. As Buttler did so, again and again, smiling a sacrificial lamb’s smile without fail, it was difficult not to feel sorry for him.

So there was a frisson of something like shock in seeing Buttler remonstrate with umpire Sharfuddoula during England’s T20 World Cup match against South Africa in St Lucia on Friday. Sharfuddoula had, at Quinton de Kock’s canny instigation, asked Joel Wilson upstairs to take a look at what happened as De Kock’s slog sweep off Adil Rashid dipped groundward at deep backward square leg in the ninth over. After several replays, Wilson decided Mark Wood had not got his fingers under the ball before it met the turf. Not out.

Buttler, the sharpness of his shoulder aimed at Sharfuddoula, his neck bent in the same direction, his eyes searing the uncomfortably short distance between him and the umpire, wasn’t having it. What do you mean not out? Better question: Nice? This guy?

De Kock was 58 not out off 30 when he was reprieved. It was his second half-century in as many innings and he seemed cleared for take-off for a hundred. But, 22 balls later, Buttler was roaring in triumph. De Kock had thrown his bat at a cutter from Jofra Archer and the edge had flown hard, high and wide. But not hard, high and wide enough to evade Buttler, who was cleared for take-off himself and snared the ball in his left glove and held on as he tumbled to earth. Umpire Wilson’s call had cost England just seven De Kock runs.

In the 14th Buttler launched himself down leg to intercept a veering delivery from Wood that had been pushed wider still by connecting with Heinrich Klaasen’s pad. Four balls after that in the same over, Wood homed in on Klaasen, backing away to leg to make room for an off-side assault, with a bouncer. David Miller called for a run as the ball squirted wide of Buttler, who hared to haul it in and throw down the stumps at the non-striker’s end with Klaasen well short of his ground. It looked like Klaasen, a wicketkeeper himself, remember, hadn’t given Buttler a chance of doing what he did.

Buttler was roaring again, and justifiably. Maybe, when you’re busy with your 422nd T20, as Buttler was on Friday, you can see a close game coming from a long way away. And you play accordingly. Or not like the South Africans did for too much of their innings.

“We kind of went into a dwaal in the middle [overs] there,” Miller told a television interviewer between innings. Dwaal? It’s an Afrikaans word that means dreamy or dazed, and it summed up the way South Africa batted. Having reached 63 without loss in their powerplay, England limited them to 100 runs in the remaining 14 overs.

England had chased 181 with something approaching ease at the same ground on Wednesday to beat West Indies by eight wickets with 15 balls to spare. Would a target of 164 be big enough to hold them? It didn’t seem it would when 52 runs flowed from the start of the 15th to the end of the 17th overs, which were bowled by Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortjé and Ottneil Baartman. With 18 balls left in the game, England needed 25.

But two fine catches in the deep by Tristan Stubbs and Aiden Markram removed Harry Brook and Liam Livingstone, who had shared 78 off 42 to put the English ahead, a dozen deliveries apart. Markram’s effort — sprinting 18 metres towards the boundary from mid-on, diving and making the grab over his shoulder — would have done Willie Mays proud.

When the dust cleared it emerged that South Africa had won by seven runs; exactly as many runs as De Kock scored after he survived Wood’s non-catch. Buttler knew it would be tight, but that tight? He is a sharp knife after all. And, in the best way, not at all nice.

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Batting battle awaits England, South Africa

“If you don’t have the belief you might as well pack your bags and go home.” – Kagiso Rabada

Telford Vice / Cape Town

ENGLAND will be back at the scene of their convincing win over West Indies on Wednesday. South Africa haven’t played a T20I at this ground since May 2010, but they arrive fresh from a decent enough downing of the United States. The stage for their men’s T20 World Cup clash in Gros Islet on Friday couldn’t be better set.

The South Africans are unbeaten after five games while England have lost to Australia and would have been hard-pressed to chase 109 in 10 overs to win their washed out match against Scotland. But the English will be considered favourites on Friday.

Their success against the Windies, by eight wickets with 15 balls to spare, was a statement of intent powered by a 44-ball unbroken stand of 97 shared by Phil Salt and Jonny Bairstow. The South Africans’ win over the Americans, by 18 runs, in North Sound on Wednesday wasn’t as impressive. But it did mark Quinton de Kock’s return to form by way of his 74 off 40, which inspired a partnership off 110 off 60 with Aiden Markram — South Africa’s first century stand in 19 T20Is.

Throw in the fact that England have a better and far fresher idea of conditions at the Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, and it isn’t difficult to see why they might be the more bullish side on Friday. But not by much: South Africa have broken the shackles put on them by the pitches in their first four games in the tournament, in Nassau County and Arnos Vale, and will be difficult to becalm now that that has happened.

Both teams have quality attacks, but this match is shaping up as a buffet of barrelling, burgeoning, just plain big batting. That’s as much a comment on the likely conditions as it is on the players involved. Put those two factors together at the same time in the same place, and take cover.

When: England vs South Africa, June 21, 2PM GMT, 10.30AM Local, 4.30PM SAST, 8PM IST

Where: Darren Sammy National Cricket stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia

What to expect: No rain, but plenty of heat and humidity. And runs: half the top 10 totals in the tournament have been scored in St Lucia.

Head to head in T20 World Cups: England 2-4 South Africa

Team Watch:

England

Jos Buttler’s team are in the throes of an unemphatic but also an efficient defence of the title they won in Australia in 2022.

Tactics & Matchups: Phil Salt and Jonny Bairstow are key to the firing of a potent batting line-up.

Probable XI: Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (capt), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Reece Topley

South Africa

Now that they’ve shown what they can do on what Quinton de Kock called a “decent pitch finally” in Antigua on Wednesday, the batting unit needs to kick on.

Tactics & Matchups: Ottneil Baartman should return, which would mean only one specialist spinner.

Probable XI: Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram (capt), Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortjé, Ottneil Baartman

Did you know?

— Phil Salt is the only batter in either squad who is among the tournament’s top 10 runscorers.

— Similarly, Anrich Nortjé is the sole representative in the top 10 wicket-takers.

— England have won all four T20Is they have played in St Lucia and South Africa have lost both of theirs.

What they said:

“It’s been a really topsy-turvy start. It didn’t really feel like we played much cricket up to this point. But, in tournament cricket, you need a bit of confidence and momentum at the right time and you need it to keep building. So to get a win against the hosts gives us the first push in that direction.” — Phil Salt suggests England are cleared for take-off after their win over West Indies on Wednesday.

“There’s no point thinking about it. If you don’t have the belief you might as well pack your bags and go home. Whatever happens happens, but the belief is there.” — Kagiso Rabada declines to discuss South Africa’s unhappy record in tournaments.

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Better batting boosts South Africa against plucky but tone deaf US

“It’s nice to get a decent pitch finally.” – Quinton de Kock

Telford Vice / Cape Town

SOUTH Africa emerged from the batting gloom that hasn’t helped them stay unbeaten for five matches in this edition of the men’s T20 World Cup, their longest winning streak in the history of the tournament, to overcome a plucky United States in North Sound on Wednesday.

Quinton de Kock’s 40-ball 74 was his first effort of 50 or more in nine T20I innings, and followed four trips to the crease in which he had scraped together 48. Challenging batting conditions in those first four games was part of the reason for his lean run. As he told a television interviewer after the match: “It’s nice to get a decent pitch finally.”

De Kock and Aiden Markram shared 110 off 60, South Africa’s only century stand in the 19 T20Is they have played since October 2022. Midway through the 12th over they had already surpassed their previous best total in this tournament. They settled on 194/4 — the highest score made in the 18 men’s T20Is played at North Sound, the joint fifth-highest of the T20I World Cup, and South Africa’s biggest in seven games in the format. Only 19 times in the 101 T20Is in which they have batted first have they scored more runs.

But the success was not unqualified. De Kock’s dismissal in the 13th was followed by David Miller’s and Markram’s, the three wickets falling for 15 in 17 balls. Miller suffered just his second first-baller in all of his 106 T20I innings.

It mattered little in terms of the bigger picture. The Americans showed fight without dragging the match close enough to a contest often enough to concern South Africa. Five overs in the second half their innings earned 10 or more runs each, but they went into that phase needing more than two runs a ball.

Andries Gous hit Anrich Nortjé for a four and two sixes in a 15th over that sailed for 19. Gous also hammered two of the three sixes that boomed in the 19th, bowled by Tabraiz Shamsi, which cost 22. How much would the South Africans rue their puzzling decision to leave out death bowler Ottneil Baartman?

Not a lot with Kagiso Rabada around. He wasn’t at his best in the first four matches, in which he looked listless and took 4/84. But his intelligence and experience shone through on Wednesday, when three of his four overs went for six or fewer runs and he took 3/18.

Gous’ career-best 80 not out off 47, and the 91 off 43 he shared with Harmeet Singh for the ninth wicket, limited the margin of South Africa’s win to 18 runs. The Americans’ 176/6 was their fifth-highest total in the 32 T20Is they have played and their second-highest against full member opponents.

Even so, something was missing from the US’ performance. The omission was at once tangible and not, and maybe not an issue for many among the resolutely cricketminded. But this is a World Cup. It is about representation and how teams that brand themselves as national present themselves.

That brings us to Willie Mays, the Say Hey Kid, who said goodbye on Tuesday, aged 93. Sadly the US team did not wear black armbands, or do anything else, to mark the moment.

Mays was, essentially, AB de Villiers. But better. He was among the greatest players ever to grace any era in any sport anywhere. Only five MLB players have hit more than Mays’ 660 home runs, and two of them were drug cheats. Just six scored more runs, also including a drug cheat. Mays was among 33 players who have had 3,000 or more base hits, but he remains the only member of that club who also averaged at least .300, hit more than 300 home runs and stole more than 300 bases. And he did all that never far from the sharp end of racism. Mays grew up idolising Joe DiMaggio, who said of him: “Willie Mays is the closest to being perfect I’ve ever seen.”

That May’s cricketing compatriots didn’t acknowledge his demise on Wednesday was a dereliction of duty. Only four members of their XI were born in the US, but that was no excuse. The letters on their playing shirts read USA, so best they represent the USA. Not perfectly, but properly.

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American ambition meets South African strangeness

“We’ve been speaking about playing in the World Cup and playing more games against the full member nations. And here we are doing it.” – Aaron Jones

Telford Vice / Cape Town

THE Americans would be forgiven for pinching themselves. Few would have expected them to reach this stage of the men’s T20 World Cup. Yet there they are, among the elated eight teams who remain in the running and not one of the disappointed dozen who exited after the group games.

They had a little help from a washout against Ireland in Lauderhill on Friday. Perhaps the small Florida city should be renamed Laundryhill — three of the four games scheduled there suffered the same fate.

That’s not to cast aspersions on the United States’ progression. They hammered Canada in the tournament opener and then held their nerve to overcome Pakistan in a super over. Let there be no doubt that they are a proud and resourceful team.

Is it too much to hope that they could add South Africa to their list of felled giants in their match in North Sound on Wednesday? Probably, but no doubt many Pakistanis thought that before their bubble was burst.

Besides, it’s not as if the South Africans have been convincing. Batting conditions have been difficult, but that does not explain why they struggled to beat the Netherlands and Nepal. Although they have reeled off four consecutive wins, not one of them has been comfortable. Their batting line-up might feel exposed and fragile as a consequence — which makes this the perfect time for them to be picked off by unfancied opponents.

And unfancied the Americans surely are. Saurabh Netravalkar is having a fairytale tournament and counts Mohammad Rizwan, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma among his wickets. He will need to be at least as good, and solidly supported, to be part of a victory. Similarly, Aaron Jones, Andries Gouws and Monank Patel will need to deliver the kind of batting that has earned them half-centuries.

That said, David Miller is South Africa’s sole half-centurion. But Anrich Nortjé, Ottneil Baartman and Keshav Maharaj have all taken more wickets than Netravalkar.

Many will be rooting, as Americans would say, for a shock result. South Africans might be among them. Because that could, the theory will go, jolt Aiden Markram’s team out of their strange and troubling batting funk. Rather now than when it really matters.

When: South Africa vs United States, June 19, 2PM GMT, 10.30AM Local, 4.30PM SAST, 8PM IST

Where: Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua

What to expect: A hot, humid day with a slight chance of a shower in the evening. Namibia were bowled out for 72 here and Oman for 47, but they were facing Australia and England.

Head to head in T20 World Cups: 0-0

Team Watch:

South Africa

The focus will be squarely on the batting line-up and whether it finally has its ducks in a row, but in a good way.

Tactics & Matchups: If South Africa want to see what a difference a second specialist spinner might make, this game is their safest way of finding out.

Probable XI: Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram (capt), Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortjé, Ottneil Baartman, Tabraiz Shamsi

United States

Monank Patel is likely to return from the shoulder injury that kept him out of the match against India in Nassau County on Wednesday.

Tactics & Matchups: How the top order fares against South Africa’s classy quicks will dictate the quality of the Americans’ challenge.

Probable XI: Monank Patel (capt), Steven Taylor, Andries Gous, Aaron Jones, Nitish Kumar, Corey Anderson, Harmeet Singh, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Jasdeep Singh, Saurabh Netravalkar, Ali Khan

Did you know?

— These teams have never played each other in any format.

— A win for South Africa will be their fifth straight in the tournament, more than they have achieved consecutively than in any other edition of the T20 World Cup.

— The US have won three of the eight T20Is they’ve played against ICC full members.

What they said:

“As a batter you want to go out there and score runs, and then you get the pitches we’ve played on. It can be frustrating, but it seems that’s the nature of the pitches. So we kind of have to be okay with it. The bowlers are doing a really good job for us. Hopefully we get better pitches and the batters can score some runs and win games for the team.” — Reeza Hendricks bemoans the state of the tournament’s surfaces so far.

“We’ve been speaking about playing in the World Cup and playing more games against the full member nations. And here we are doing it. Qualifying for the Super Eights is a big thing not just for us, but also for the fans and the younger generation in America.” — Aaron Jones on the US’ suddenly brave new world.

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South Africa’s crazy beautiful win

“Sometimes you’re very grateful to get random victories like that.” – Aiden Markram

Telford Vice / Cape Town

ARNOS Vale’s spanking new world class floodlights had been turned off and the sun was thinking about coming up to start another perfect day in the potted paradise of Kingstown, St Vincent. So what was that dazzling in the dawn?

It was South Africa’s sheer chutzpah, Nepal’s shimmering commitment, and the sharpness of a contest between teams who had never met before at a ground where only one of them had played previously.

South Africa took on West Indies at Arnos Vale in an ODI, albeit in May 2001. But for much of their innings in a men’s T20 World Cup game on Saturday, Nepal looked like they knew the conditions forwards, backwards, sideways and inside out.

They won the toss and chose to field, and deployed four spinners in an attack of seven to render some of the most celebrated batters in the game close to clueless. South Africa were limited to 115/7. It’s their highest total in the four matches they have played in the tournament but there was little to celebrate.

Nepal needed victory to stay in the running for the Super Eights. And they were in with a shout until the last ball of the match. With two required, Gulsan Jha failed to lay a bat on the ice-cool Ottneil Baartman’s short delivery. The batters tried to scramble a bye to tie the scores and force a super over. Quinton de Kock’s throw to the non-striker’s end hit Jha in the back, sending the ball towards mid-on — where Heinrich Klaasen fielded and flicked onto the stumps with Jha short of his ground to seal South Africa’s one-run win.

That it took this kind of craziness to get the job done left Markram not best pleased. “On the whole tonight we were nowhere near our best,” he told a press conference. “We lacked intensity and conviction in how we wanted to play and in our gameplans. Nepal put us under a lot of pressure. They showed the quality they have and made life really difficult for us. We’ll take lots of learnings from a night like this, as I’m sure they will. They’ll also take a lot of confidence from having us on the ropes.”

As imperfect as South Africa’s display was, it means they will take a perfect record of played four, won four into the Super Eights — not least because Tabraiz Shamsi, who featured in his first match of the tournament and was his team’s only specialist spinner, was in rasping form for his 4/19.

Shamsi dented Nepal’s resolve in the eighth over — his first — by bowling Kushal Bhurtel and Rohit Paudel with deliveries that ragged from well outside off stump. In his fourth over — the 18th, with a gettable 18 needed off as many balls — Shamsi stepped up again to nail Aasif Sheikh’s off bail and have Dipendra Singh Airee caught behind off the glove down leg.

Shamsi’s stellar performance wasn’t what Markram was talking about when he said: “We’ve all watched this game enough; we know funny things can happen. Sometimes you’re very grateful to get random victories like that.”

Too many of those random funny things happened for South Africa’s liking. Reeza Hendricks laboured to 43 off 49, and he wasn’t alone. Only Tristan Stubbs, who made an unbeaten 27 off 18, scored faster than a run a ball. Stubbs was the sole South African who batted with anything like confidence as six wickets crashed for 48 runs inside nine overs.

The malaise was epitomised in the 14th when David Miller trudged off, convinced by what he had seen on the big screen that Nepal’s review would succeed. Miller had swept at a top spinner from Bhurtel that struck him on the back pad. There seemed to be reasonable doubt about where the ball had pitched and what it might have hit unimpeded, so Joel Wilson’s decision of not out was justified. But the gizmos said the ball would have clipped a bail, and the umpire’s call stood.

Miller, confused by the delivery itself and by what he thought he saw on the replay, turned on his heel deep in the outfield and went back to the crease. It’s a rare day when a player as fine and experienced is fooled twice by the same ball.

Two deliveries earlier Bhurtel had had Heinrich Klaasen juggled but held by Karan KC on the extra cover boundary. In Bhurtel’s previous over Markram dragged a leg break onto his stumps. Bhurtel added the wickets of Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada in a haul of 4/19 in which both his leg break and his googly were frequently unhittable.

Sandeep Lamichhane, playing his first international since early November because of a conviction for rape of which has since been acquitted, looked like he had never been away when his first two deliveries, perfect leg breaks, ripped past Hendricks’ outside edge. Lamichhane took no wickets, but the pressure he piled on was worth several.

Nepal were similarly impressive at the crease. In the 13th, Sheikh hammered no less a bowler than Rabada not just for six but onto what used to be an airport runway. Talk about being cleared for take-off. In the 19th, Sompal Kami picked Anrich Nortjé’s back-of-the-hand slower ball well enough to also send it screaming into the Caribbean’s dark sky.

All of which was cheered into that sky by the thousands of Nepal fans in the stands. “We feel very grateful to them, the way they come and support us,” Paudel told a press conference. “We wanted to give them a gift today but it didn’t go our way.”

Even so, Paudel felt emboldened enough to say, “The way we played today shows that we belong here.” Few would disagree. Certainly not Markram: “We’re at the same hotel as them, and they’re a great bunch of guys; very friendly, very respectful. The way they approach their game and the cricket they’re playing results in them getting a fantastic fan base. The players deserve it and it’s fantastic to see the fans buying into it. I don’t know too much about Nepal cricket, but looking at it from the outside I would say it’s in a great place and that there are exciting times ahead for them.”

The press, perhaps because Nepal got so close, aimed harsh questions at Paudel. What tricks had he missed? “We missed nothing,” he said. “We played good cricket but still we ended up on the losing side.”

Did the climax of the match mean Nepal had “lost presence of mind? You didn’t relay a message to the batters. Don’t you feel that we are clueless in these situations?”

Paudel fired back a question of his own: “How can I pass on a message in those situations? I couldn’t do it in the middle of the over, when we required two from two.”

Could the batting order have been better? “If we had won the match the batting order would raise no questions.”

As Nepal will learn, small things win games like this. Things like Baartman confirming with the umpire that the penultimate ball of the game, which was short and had sailed out of Jha’s reach by not quite enough distance to be wided for height, was indeed the one allowed bouncer for the over. And things like, as Baartman stood at the top of his run to bowl the final delivery, De Kock shaking his wicketkeeping glove off his throwing hand because he knew the bye was on and that he would have to unload the ball in a hurry.

So the Nepalese shouldn’t be hard on themselves or their team. This hurts because the outcome could easily have been starkly different, and because it condemned the fans and their team to a homeward journey of more than 14,000 kilometres weeks earlier than they would have liked. But there is solace to be taken from Markram’s words, and from what Shamsi told a television interviewer when he collected his player-of-the-match prize. Nepal, Shamsi said, had “played a beautiful game”. Indeed. It dazzled still in the dawn.

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South Africa eye another win against Nepal

“I don’t think belief is something this team struggles with.” – Rob Walter

Telford Vice / Cape Town

THE Caribbean is the kind of place where hotel cleaners think nothing of detaining you for more than an hour, as you’re making your way to your room, to discuss why the captain deployed two slips — rather than three — after lunch.

So it wasn’t surprising that South Africa’s men’s T20 World Cup squad were supplied with potentially valuable information before they had even checked in to their accommodation in Kingstown. “When we arrived at 3am our bus driver told me that when the sea is rough there’s bounce and pace, and when the sea is calm it spins,” Rob Walter told a press conference on Wednesday. “Most importantly, I want us to be able to respond to the conditions in front of us and be able to figure out a method to win.”

So far, so good. South Africa overcame the challenges presented by Nassau County’s erratic pitch and sluggish outfield well enough to reel off wins against Sri Lanka, the Netherlands and Bangladesh. Another success over Nepal at Arnos Vale on Saturday and they will sail into the Super Eights — which they have already reached — with an unblemished record.

Sandeep Lamichhane stands in their way of doing so. Nepal’s best player has yet to make it onto the field in the tournament because he was denied a United States visa and the team’s first two matches were in Dallas and Lauderhill. Whether Lamichhane’s conviction and subsequent acquittal for rape in Nepal was the reason for decision has not been disclosed by the US government. But there is little doubt that his return — he has not played an international since November — will be key to Nepal’s chances.

Even so, anything except a resounding South Africa win will raise the alarm that, despite their performance so far, they are not as prepared for the business end of the tournament as they would like.

When: Nepal vs South Africa, June 14, 11.30PM GMT, 7.30PM Local, 1.30AM (June 15) SAST, 5AM (June 15) IST

Where: Arnos Vale, St Vincent

What to expect: Only two men’s T20Is were played at this ground before the tournament, and the pitches were relaid before Thursday’s game between Bangladesh and the Netherlands. Thus the likely conditions remain mostly a mystery. But we know the floodlights are new, and therefore good. There’s little chance of enough rain to get in the way of the cricket.

Head to head in T20 World Cups: 0-0

Team Watch:

Nepal

Sandeep Lamichhane’s first match of the tournament can only boost the team.

Tactics & Matchups: Lamichhane and Dipendra Singh Airee could be Nepal’s best options to bowl away from the South Africans’ strengths.

Probable XI: Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh, Anil Sah, Rohit Paudel (capt), Kushal Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Sompal Kami, Gulshan Jha, Sandeep Lamichhane, Karan KC, Abinash Bohara

South Africa

Having booked their place in the Super Eights should help Aiden Markram’s team relax and play less constrained cricket.

Tactics & Matchups: South Africa’s classy quicks could blow the Nepalese away.

Probable XI: Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram (capt), Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortjé, Ottneil Baartman

Did you know?

— One of the straight boundaries at Arnos Vale is more than 10 metres shorter than the other.

— Only three bowlers took more wickets than Sandeep Lamichhane in ODIs last year.

— Anrich Nortjé needs three wickets to surpass Dale Steyn as South Africa’s leading wicket-taker in T20 World Cups.

What they said:

“We know we are walking into the unknown; we have never played South Africa before. But we have been training very hard and we know a lot of work has been put in. We cannot think about things that are not in our control.” — Monty Desai after Nepal’s washed out match against Sri Lanka in Lauderhill, which left their hopes of reaching the Super Eights hanging by a thread.

“I don’t think belief is something this team struggles with. They back themselves and we back them as a coaching staff. They’re a tight unit, they’re good human beings, they get on well together. That’s a great advert from a team point of view.” — it’s all good in South Africaland, Rob Walter says.

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Bastardised baseball, corrupted cricket …

Baseball isn’t cricket and cricket isn’t baseball. They are second cousins twice removed.

Telford Vice / Cape Town

PEOPLE living in the United States whose heritage does not stem from a society where cricket is a major sport might wonder what has been going in Dallas, Lauderhill and Nassau County for the past 15 days and will continue until Sunday. And bang in the middle of the baseball season, no less. Questions, they’ll have a few.

Why do people in other places play this bastardised baseball instead of the real thing? Why does the strange game have the same name as an insect? Why do some of its adherents consider baseball to be corrupted cricket? Why do cricket fans think games matter more when they are played by teams representing countries rather than franchises?

Why are cricket bats flat? Why aren’t batters compelled to run every time they hit the ball in front of them? Why are they allowed to run when they hit the ball behind them?

Why is the ball not delivered to batters from a standing start? Why is the idea to bounce the ball in front of the batter? Why do you change pitchers after only six balls? Why don’t you change the pitcher if their first two balls sail for home runs? Why do you rotate the place you pitch from? Why must your arm stay straight when you’re pitching? Why are some pitchers’ deliveries so slow?

Why is the strike zone denoted by bits of wood? Why is it sometimes one strike and you’re out? Why isn’t it four balls outside of the strike zone and you walk to first base? Why don’t you walk when you’re hit by a pitch? Why is there only one base? Why can’t up to four members of the batting team be on the field at the same time? Why are there so many runs?

Why does only one member of the fielding team wear gloves? Why is there a fuss about whether a fielder has touched the boundary when the ball is close by? Why don’t fans keep the ball when someone hits it into the crowd?

Why isn’t the inning — yes, singular — over when three batters are out? Why doesn’t the umpire stand behind the catcher? Why don’t players argue with the umpire enough to be ejected from the game? Why do managers never appear on the field to argue with the umpire? Why don’t coaches come out to advise struggling pitchers?

Despite common factors like wooden bats and leather balls, some modes of dismissal, and a similar set of required skills, baseball isn’t cricket and cricket isn’t baseball. They are second cousins twice removed. The definitive difference between the two sports is about who controls the rhythm of play. In baseball, it’s the pitcher. In cricket, it’s the batter.

Baseball bats are round, making it far more difficult to meet the ball solidly. To hit the ball fairly, and thus being allowed to head for first base, means sending it within the 90-degree v formed by the foul lines. Hitting it into that area forces you to run towards first base, no matter how easily the ball might be fielded. All of which puts batters at a distinct disadvantage.

A baseball batting average of .300 is considered excellent. That means the game’s best batters fail to reach base by hitting the ball safely — between the foul lines, and without being caught or put out at a base or home plate — in fewer than two-thirds of their plate appearances. Clearly, pitchers rule this roost.

Because cricket bats are flat, because batters have the choice whether or not to run after they hit the ball, because they can hit it all around the wicket and still run, because they only have to reach the other end of the pitch to score a run — not go all the way around the diamond — they are in charge in cricket.

A good cricket innings can last hours, yield hundreds of runs, and consume even more balls. Hanif Mohammed spent 970 minutes — more than 16 hours, or theoretically long enough to play more than five entire T20s — scoring 337 for Pakistan against West Indies at Kensington Oval in January 1958. Balls faced were not counted then, but in time terms it remains the longest Test innings. The longest recorded MLB at-bat — the equivalent of an innings — belongs to Brandon Belt, who lasted 21 pitches in 13 minutes for the San Francisco Giants against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim in April 2018. The potted purgatory ended when he was caught in right field.

Still, there are alluring connection points between baseball and cricket. Both games go on for significantly longer than most other sports. Both move to more or less the same tempo, T20 perhaps excepted. The seam is as important on a baseball as it is on a cricket ball, but on a baseball it looks like a stitched, raised version of a tennis ball’s curvilinear pattern. Cricketers, like baseball players, wear caps and helmets.

The grip and delivery of a pitcher’s curve ball is almost identical to that of a finger spinner’s standard turning delivery. The idea, in baseball, is for the ball to break downward through the air and veer slightly away from a righthanded batter. Without bouncing, of course. If it does bounce and the batter swings and misses anyway, that’s a strike.

Keshav Maharaj almost found out what happens when finger spinners don’t land their deliveries in Nassau County on Monday. Assigned to defend 10 in the last over of South Africa’s men’s T20 World Cup game against Bangladesh, he produced three full tosses. Baseball fans wouldn’t have blinked at that. South Africa’s supporters blinked hard.

Thanks to two catches in the deep by Aiden Markram — one of them a brilliant running, leaping effort — Maharaj got away with it and his team won by four runs. Again, baseball watchers wouldn’t have been impressed. Outfielders take catches like that in every game, sometimes crashing into walls — mercifully padded — as they do so. And then, often, they have to fire off a throw to one of the bases or home plate to try and stop an advancing runner.

Mostly, cricket is not baseball and baseball is not cricket. Americans have had seven T20 World Cup warm-up games — three of them washed out — and 10 matches in the tournament proper to parse the differences, point out the similarities, and ponder the peculiarities. They will have six more before the action moves to the Caribbean exclusively on Monday.

Might some of the curious among them, particularly if they are not of South Asian or West Indian heritage, or anywhere else cricket has a firm foothold, keep watching next week? Maybe that will depend on how their MLB teams are doing.

If you’re a fan of the New York Yankees, the Cleveland Guardians, the Seattle Mariners, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Milwaukee Brewers or the Los Angeles Dodgers — who lead their respective divisions as the halfway mark of the 162-game regular season approaches — the ongoing T20 World Cup probably won’t feature in your viewing schedule. But if you root for the Tampa Bay Rays, the Chicago White Sox, the Oakland Athletics, the Miami Marlins, the Pittsburgh Pirates or the Colorado Rockies — the bottom clubs — you might stay tuned in.

Because, whether you’re into baseball or cricket, or bastardised baseball or corrupted cricket, everyone loves a winner.

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Leaving New York, never easy

“It could have gone a metre or two further, and we would be having a different conversation.” – Aiden Markram on taking the crucial catch that removed Mahmudullah.

Telford Vice / Cape Town

“LEAVING New York, never easy,” Michael Stipe sang on Around the Sun, R.E.M.’s 2004 album. Twenty years later, South Africa know the feeling. Having found ways to overcome Nassau County’s unhelpful conditions in their wins over Sri Lanka and the Netherlands in the men’s T20 World Cup, they almost came unstuck against Bangladesh on Monday.

Not that Nassau is New York, in the same way that Geelong is not Melbourne and Benoni is not Johannesburg. Nassau is on Long Island, which stretches eastward from Manhattan into the Atlantic. New Yorkers would scoff at the notion that Nassau County is part of their city, which consists of the boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island. And nothing more, even though Brooklyn and Queens are, geographically, also on Long Island. Nassau County is, however, in New York State. And that’s something altogether different.

Why does this matter? It goes to credibility, your honour, as too many lawyers have said during the 501 episodes of Law & Order that have aired. If we can’t even get right where Nassau is, how can we be believed when we say the pitch there isn’t much good for cricket?

Don’t believe us. Believe the Aiden Markram who said at the toss that he had chosen to bat — the first time a captain has done so in the six games played there — because he thought the strip selected for Monday’s match would have been becalmed by the matches played on it on Saturday and Sunday.

Or believe the Aiden Markram who looked aghast and gestured at the surface using his hand, apparently meaning the ball didn’t bounce as high as he had anticipated, when he drove past an angled delivery from Taskin Ahmed and was cleanbowled to reduce South Africa to 23/3. Three balls later, and with 10 deliveries of their powerplay remaining, Tristan Stubbs blipped Tanzim Hasan Sakib to cover and they were 23/4.

The sting of the by now customary early dismissal of Reeza Hendricks — he has scored seven off 13 in three innings — was eased by Quinton de Kock slamming Tanzim and Taskin for sixes in the first two overs. In the third De Kock pulled lustily at Tanzim and was bowled by a delivery that perhaps kept lower than he thought it would.

Against the Netherlands on Saturday, Stubbs and David Miller rerouted an innings that leant heavily at 12/4 with a partnership of 65 off 72 that was the biggest factor in South Africa’s successful pursuit of their target of 104. Miller was again the lynchpin on Monday — his 35th birthday — when he shared a run-a-ball stand of 79 with Heinrich Klaasen. The South Africans added just 11 runs off the 15 balls of their innings that were left after Klaasen was undone by another low-bouncing ball, from Taskin, and bowled.

Would their total of 113/6 hold the Bangladeshis, even considering the pitch and the slow outfield? Canada’s 137/7 in Nassau on Friday was enough to beat Ireland, and India’s 119 there on Sunday was too big for Pakistan. South Africa’s 106/6 against the Dutch was the highest winning chase at a venue where Sri Lanka and Ireland were bowled out for 77 and 96 batting first.

Bangladesh seemed to have blown their chance when they slumped to 50/4 in the 10th, but Towhid Hridoy and Mahmudullah kept them in it with a partnership that reached 44 off 45 before it was ended by Kagiso Rabada trapping the former in front, leaving Bangladesh to score 20 off 17.

In fact, the stand was momentarily over six balls earlier, when Sam Nogajski gave Mahmudullah out lbw to Ottneil Baartman. Replays said the ball would easily have cleared leg stump, and Mahmudullah survived. Importantly, the ball crossed the boundary — but what might have been four leg byes didn’t count because the ball was dead the instant the batter was given out on the field. In that circumstance, only if a no-ball is called can runs be added. Bangladesh’s famously volatile supporters could hardly be blamed for feeling aggrieved, and denied victory, by that regulation. Hridoy’s dismissal will sit similarly uneasily. It was also reviewed, and this time the gizmos gave Richard Illingworth the benefit of the doubt — not all, but enough, of the ball would have hit the top of leg, and Hridoy had to go.

Mahmudullah batted on to face at the start of the last over, which began with his team requiring 11. Keshav Maharaj bowled the 20th for the first time in his 30 T20Is, and it showed. His initial offering was wided. The next two — one a full toss — yielded three runs. Then came a yorker-length delivery, which Jaker Ali hammered high to long-on, where Markram took a comfortable catch. Illingworth got it right with the next ball, which the South Africans sent upstairs after he turned down their lbw appeal for Rishad Hossein’s wicket. Hossein had been struck outside the line.

Happily for Bangladesh the resultant leg bye put Mahmudullah on strike with two balls left and six required. Maharaj bowled another full toss, and the greybearded 38-year-old launched it seemingly beyond the long-on boundary. Markram judged his leap perfectly and came down with the ball, and without touching the cushion. “It could have gone a metre or two further, and we would be having a different conversation,” Markram said in his television interview.

In walked Taskin to face the last delivery with six still needed. The third non-bouncing delivery of the over followed, and Maharaj’s heart would have been in his throat at the prospect of being no-balled as the ball sailed close to the batter’s waist. He wasn’t, and a spliced single into the covers was all that accrued.

The target was the lowest yet defended by South Africa and the lowest not reeled in by Bangladesh. But had they been awarded those four leg byes — how is it fair that they weren’t? — they could have forced a super over. Leaving New York State, never easy. Better to do so with two points than none.

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Nassau narrows gap between Bangladesh, South Africa

“If you end up, on this kind of pitch, looking to chase 150 or 130 it can be a daunting task.” — David Miller

Telford Vice / Cape Town

WELCOME to Nassau County, Bangladesh. It’s a beautiful place to be. Unless, that is, you’re trying to score runs in the men’s T20 World Cup. As India and Pakistan discovered on Sunday, it’s tough.

Sri Lanka have been bowled out for 77 there, Ireland for 96 and Pakistan for 119. South Africa, who went into the tournament among the favourites, have won both of their games at the ground but not as convincingly as they would have liked.

That said, Saturday’s match between the Netherlands and South Africa was the first in the four games played in Nassau before Sunday’s mega match where the focus was on the cricket rather than on a pitch that had a mind of its own.

In the first three games, balls that bounced in the same spot were by no means certain to reach batters at more or less a consistent height. Couple that with plenty of swing and seam, and an outfield that refused to allow the ball free passage towards the boundary.

Even the kind of calmed down surface we saw on Saturday would keep the bowlers in the game more than they were in the run-soaked spectacle of this year’s IPL. That should make for a better contest than we have seen in previous T20 World Cup games between these teams, which have been dominated by the South Africans.

The fact that neither batting line-up has put in a commanding performance in the three matches they have played between them — David Miller’s 51-ball 59 not out against the Dutch is the only half-century scored by a Bangladesh or a South Africa player — also bodes well for those who want a decent game of cricket, not just another glut of runs.

But, for other Bangladeshis and South Africans, home and away, all that will matter is putting another two points into the Super Eights bank.

When: Bangladesh vs South Africa, June 8, 2PM GMT, 10.30AM Local, 4.30PM SAST, 8PM IST

Where: Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York State

What to expect: An improved but still challenging pitch, and a sadly still slow outfield. The forecast is for highish humidity, which could aid swing, and perhaps a passing shower.

Head to head in T20 World Cups: Bangladesh 0-3 South Africa

Team Watch:

Bangladesh

Hanging tough to beat Sri Lanka by two wickets with an over to spare would have done wonders for Bangladesh’s resolve.

Tactics & Matchups: Like all teams fated to play in Nassau, Bangladesh will look to field first. And why not when you have matchwinning bowlers like Mustafizur Rahman and Rishad Hossain.

Probable XI: Tanzid Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Litton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), Tawhid Hridoy, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Mustafizur Rahman.

South Africa

Finding ways to win both the games they have played at this troublesome venue can only steel the South Africans.

Tactics & Matchups: How the vaunted middle order of Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller cope with Bangladesh’s skilled attack will likely decide the issue.

Probable XI: Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram (capt), Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortjé, Ottneil Baartman

Did you know?

— At gametime Bangladesh will be one of three teams among the 20 at the tournament — Nepal and New Zealand are the others — who have played only one match.

— Rilee Rossouw’s 56-ball 109 at the SCG in October 2022 is the only century scored in T20 World Cup games between these teams.

— Anrich Nortjé’s 4/10 in the same match is the best bowling performance.

What they said:

“We will have to come back with a new strategy [against South Africa]. There is no other way than to play good cricket. If the batters can contribute we will have something good.” — Najmul Hossain Shanto after the tight win over Sri Lanka.

“We’re playing pretty early in the day, so if there’s anything in the pitch you want to take advantage of that. But if you end up, on this kind of pitch, looking to chase 150 or 130 it can be a daunting task.” — David Miller after Saturday’s match.

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South Africa shaken but stirred to buck Dutch trend

“There was a lot more pressure at the end than when I went in at 12/4.” – David Miller

Telford Vice / Cape Town

AIDEN Markram is a decent bloke. He is not the man who stalked off the field spitting mad, offering a face like thunder, like he could bite the head off a live snake, effing and blinding as he went, firing words that would have been understood by South Africans only, but to all clearly filthy, after 15 balls of his team’s innings in Nassau County on Saturday.

And yet that really was Markram — who had chased a legside delivery from Vivian Kingma and, his bat well away from his body, edged the ball. Scott Edwards, who would have been unsighted for much of the moment, dived scooped a fine low catch.

Markram knew he was out before Chris Gaffney and Sharfuddoula asked Richard Kettleborough upstairs to take a look because Edwards’ gloves had snared the ball close to the turf. All Markram could do while the umpires dissected the details of his error was stand there and fume.

By then he had seen Reeza Hendricks and Quinton de Kock entangle themselves in a terrible tango that could only end in the latter’s run out off the first ball of the innings. De Kock became the first South Africa player to suffer a diamond duck — dismissed without facing a delivery — in a T20I. Markram had also seen, from the non-striker’s end, the top of Hendricks’ off stump nailed by a straightening ball from Logan van Beek.

And now this; an unedifying stroke and, consequently, a scoreboard that read 3/3. Let the effing and blinding begin. A dozen deliveries later Heinrich Klaasen pulled Kingma to square leg and South Africa were 12/4.

Only then, when Tristan Stubbs and his old head on young shoulders and old hand David Miller took the game by the scruff of its neck, did Markram’s team look like winning. But the stand of 65 off 72 didn’t look enough when Stubbs and Marco Jansen were removed 10 balls apart.

It needed all of the experience Miller has gathered in his 291 internationals to drag his team home, with seven balls remaining, with an unbeaten 59 off 51. He finished the match with a six off Bas de Leede smote flat over square leg.

“There was a lot more pressure at the end than when I went in at 12/4,” Miller told a press conference. “We got over the line with our tailenders, and I had a lot of faith in them. But you do have those thoughts about how difficult it has been to get boundaries and now we need the boundaries. It’s about managing that space and trusting that if the ball is there you’ve got no other option but to take it down. It’s about being in that positive frame of mind and making sure you’re really capitalised if they do give you the ball [to hit].”

Did he have fun? “It’s all about situations and moments and, given the situation that we were in, I really enjoyed that innings, getting over the line and getting another two points.”

At the other end of the pitch for the last four minutes of the game stood Keshav Maharaj, who faced only one ball. And thereby hangs a tale of context. Before this match, the 16th of the men’s T20 World Cup, Maharaj had never been on the winning side in white-ball internationals against the Netherlands and de Leede had never finished in the losing XI against South Africa. That is no longer the case, on both counts.

This quirk of the recent history between the teams hangs on a certain sleight of fact. Maharaj and de Leede played in a washed out ODI in Centurion in November 2021, in the 2022 T20 World Cup match in Adelaide the next November — when the Dutch earned a shock victory by 13 runs — and in the ODI World Cup game in Dharamsala in October — when the Netherlands’ 38-run win didn’t come as a shock. Neither featured in the ODIs in Benoni and at the Wanderers in March and April last year, which fell between the World Cup games.

Neither Maharaj nor de Leede would have thought the reversal of their fortunes would have been in doubt when the Dutch shambled to a total of 103/9. Whatever had happened in the teams’ previous two tournament tussles, the Netherlands were surely doomed to defeat.

And not, for a change at this ground, because of the pitch. The outfield was still painfully slow but the erratic bounce that has hogged the headlines for several days had been eradicated. The surface hadn’t been reinvented as a belter. Rather, it was vastly improved for batting compared to what had gone before.

Closer to the truth was that the South Africans bowled sublimely and caught superbly, with Ottneil Baartman showing keen intelligence to take 4/11 in his second T20I. It was the kind of massive attack a major side should unleash on opponents who, whatever they might say or even believe, continue to be considered minnows.

Accordingly, the Netherlands’ powerplay of 20/3 was the lowest in this edition of the tournament. Until South Africa slumped to 16/4 in theirs. Markram was part of that problem, and the look on his face as he exited stage left said he knew it. Decent bloke or not, that truth hurt.

Even so, it helps when you can leave a hurtful truth in the dressingroom; when it doesn’t follow you to the hotel. Especially when you’ll be back at the same ground on Monday, leading your team against Bangladesh. Markram’s and his team’s memories of Saturday won’t be purely positive. But they will be more good than bad, and that’s all that matters.

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