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South Africa vs West Indies: Clash of heavyweights in another high-stakes battle in Ahmedabad
Is the ICC’s Super Eight the silliest qualifying process in the sporting universe? The unfathomable permutations of UEFA’s rejigged Champions League might beg otherwise. But it’s surely in a club of two.
After precisely two completed fixtures in an impressively sub-standard Group 2 of this T20 World Cup, we already knew our first semi-finalists … and even England themselves might be wondering how on earth they are still pointing in the right direction after their endless flirtations with catastrophe.
Over in Ahmedabad, however, there’s significantly more jeopardy brewing in Group 1. West Indies and South Africa, the two remaining unbeaten teams in the tournament, are gearing up for a heavyweight clash of the most literal variety, but even after they’ve finished battering seven bells out of each other, the victors will have no gurantees of progression just yet.
For West Indies, in particular, this feels like a must-win contest. They could hardly have laid out a more emphatic marker than their 107 run win over Zimbabwe on Monday. But, even allowing for that hefty NRR boost, a wounded India await as their final Super Eight fixture on Sunday. If that ends up being a straight knockout, then it’d be best to lay the killer blow here and now.
West Indies certainly have the form and the focus to do so. But, thrillingly, so do their opponents. In a tournament marked by reticence from a host of likely contenders, West Indies and South Africa have both been refreshingly route-one in their approach. Shimron Hetmyer’s 85 from 34 balls against Zimbabwe may have been the apogee of attacking batting in the tournament to date, but it was merely a continuation of the pedal-to-metal approach that enabled his team to out-muscle England by 13 sixes to six in their statement victory in Kolkata a fortnight ago.
South Africa, similarly, have not been backward in coming forward. India must have thought their last contest was in the bag when Jasprit Bumrah reprised his Barbados impact to reduce them to 20 for 3 after four overs at this same venue. They reckoned without a relentlessly aggressive middle order of Dewald Brevis, David Miller and Tristan Stubbs, who kept piling into the breach to produce a total of 187 for 7 that Marco Jansen soon proved to be more than enough to defend. A win on Thursday will almost certainly place South Africa in the semis, unless India lose all three games in the Super Eight.
More such bravery will be the requirement on Thursday. On a localised level, it’s thrilling to have such a high-stakes encounter at this stage of the competition. In reality, though, each of the tournament’s three likeliest winners would appear to have been crammed into the same under-sized pool. It’s sink-or-risk-being-sunk time at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
With 11 wickets at 12.18 – including eight in his last two outings, at this very venue, against New Zealand and India – Marco Jansen has the form and the method to make another statement impact for his team. Five of those wickets came in the powerplay – three against New Zealand, though they used his pace and bounce against him in between whiles, and two against India, who were never allowed to rally after his first-ball extraction of Tilak Varma. Every team craves a rangy left-arm seamer in this format, and Jansen’s combinations of angle, accuracy and steepling bounce mark him out as one of the very best.
If West Indies are to win, their batters need to keep swinging with the freedom and confidence that has brought them this far already. And no-one epitomises their current mood better than Shimron Hetmyer. With 219 runs at 54.75, he is the tournament’s second-highest run-scorer, behind Sahibzada Farhan’s tally of 283. In terms of pure six-hitting, his tally of 17 puts him way out on his own. If his game can sometimes seem too loose to function consistently, then it is entirely in keeping with West Indies’ mighty T20I heritage, including his 2016 forebears who counted almost exclusively in boundaries as they powered to their second world title, here on Indian soil, a decade ago.
No obvious reasons for West Indies to tinker with their winning formula, although Roston Chase’s offspin could be a consideration, especially with the significant core of left-handers in South Africa’s batting ranks. He would also add further depth to the batting line-up.
West Indies (probable): Brandon King, Shai Hope (capt & wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Jason Holder, Matthew Forde, Akeal Hosein / Roston Chase, Gudakesh Motie, Shamar Joseph.
The team that took on India was the strongest that South Africa could have put out, and for such a crunch contest, there’s no reason to think they’ll fiddle with their options.
South Africa (probable): Aiden Markram (capt), Quinton de Kock (wk), Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi.
[Cricinfo]
“Obviously, it depends on the team management… what we plan to do in this match. That is a different thing. But I think it is a very thin line between trying to give somebody an opportunity and you being unfair to some other player.”
Seattle Orcas had won just one of their first three games in MLC 2026, but it all came together beautifully for them against Washington Freedom on Thursday. The 88-run win was enough for them to jump straight to No. 2 on the points table, behind the unbeaten Los Angeles Knight Riders.
Orcas got the sort of start they wanted, reaching 59 for no loss after the powerplay even as they slowed down to get to 79 for 2 at the halfway stage. But then they really turned in on thanks to Shimron Hetmyer and Marcus Stoinis. Matthew Breetzke had given the innings some momentum in partnership with Hetmyer, but when Breetzke got out in the 15th over, Orcas were solid without being spectacular at 138 for 3. Around 200 was expected, but not the 227 they got.
And that was down to Stoinis, their captain. Hetmyer was already on 44 off 20 balls and got to his half-century off 24 deliveries soon after, but Stoinis almost caught up with Hetmyer in a blaze of sixes. He hit five of them in one over, the 17th, bowled by medium pacer Ian Holland. From 4 off six balls, Stoinis was on 34 off 12, and though there was another big one in the next over, bowled by Marco Jansen, Stoinis fell for 42 off 16 deliveries the next ball.
Hetmyer, meanwhile, left it till the last over, which started with Orcas on 208 for 5. Jack Edwards was the bowler, and Hetmyer went 6, 6, 6 off the first three balls. That was enough to take Orcas to a huge total, and for Hetmyer to finish on 79 not out off 33 balls.
With that many runs to chase down, Freedom needed a solid start. Instead, they were 42 for 5 after the powerplay, having lost most of the big guns: Steven Smith, Mitchell Owen, Andries Gous, Glenn Maxwell and Edwards. Jasdeep Singh had four of the five wickets, including three in his second over – the fifth of the innings – where he got Gous first ball, Maxwell off the next, and Edwards off the fifth. Smith was already in the bag from his first over, and Jasdeep came back in the 14th to complete his five-for with Jansen’s wicket.
At one point, it looked like the record for the biggest victory margin (by runs) in MLC – currently 123 from when San Francisco Unicorns beat Freedom last season – would be broken. That it wasn’t was thanks to runs from Freedom’s Nos. 8, 9 and 10. Amila Aponso top-scored for Freedom with 31 not out from 13 balls from No. 10, and the men before him, Holland and Jansen, contributed 46 from 39 deliveries between them.
The latest defeat, their second in three games, left Freedom at the bottom of the table.
Scores:
Seattle Orcas 227 for 6 in 20 overs (Tim Seifert 37, Shayan Jahangir22, matthew Breetzket 32, Shimron Hetmyer 79*, Marcus Stoinis 42, Ali Sheikh 11; Marco Jansen 3-33, jack Edwards 1-56, Ian Holland 2-49) beat Washington Freedom 139 in 16.2 overs (Andries Gous 18.Obus Pienaar 10, Marco Jansen 20, Ian Holland 26, Amila Aponso 31*; Marcus Stoinis 1-20, Jasdeep Singh 5-24, ottneil Baartman 1-11, Cameron Gannon 2-16, Harmeet Singh 1-40) by 88 runs
[Cricinfo]
Over 40 persons have been injured (some critically) as two buses one travelling from Galle to Ampara and the other from Tangalle to Matara crashed head on at Talalla Matara this morning.
The injured have been admitted to the Matara General Hospital and Bathhegama District Hospital.
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