South Africa Legends enter semi finals of Road Safety World Series!
South Africa Legends thumped Bangladesh Legends by 10 wickets and set a new tournament partnership record of 161* runs between Morne van Wyk and Andrew Puttick
Earlier Jonty Rhodes won the toss and elect to field and boy! Field they did. Captain Jonty led them from the front turning back the clock by affecting a direct hit to send back opener Mehrab Hossain in the 4th over. Unfortunately the captain had to leave the field later after pulling his hamstring while attempting a catch at the boundary. The captain was seen heavily strapped in the dug out.
Bangladesh Legends lost their opener Nazimuddin for 32 in 33 balls with the score at 50-2 in 7.3 overs. Aftab Ahmed and Hannan Sarkar put on a 61 run stand in 40 balls to power their team to 111-3 (Nelson strikes) when Aftab Ahmed lost his wicket trying to up the ante.
Bangladesh team powered themselves to 130-3 in 16.2 overs – setting themselves to launch a huge total on board – but not to be.
Proteas bowlers came in together to concede just 30 runs in the last 22 balls of the innings and picked 6 wickets including the wicket of Khaled Mashud who was run out as captain Rafique stood his ground while Mashud ran all the way to non-strikers end for the second run.
Makhaya Ntini bowled out Rajin Saleh and Mushfique Rahim in the last over to restrict Bangladesh Legends to 160-9 in 20 overs
Chasing 161 to win, the South African openers Andrew Puttick and Morne van Wyk took a steady approach and made sure the team had a good start in the first half of the innings. At 10 overs point South Africa Legends were 70-0.
The beginning of 11th over saw Puttick steer 2 back to back boundaries off the first 2 balls delivered by Alamgir Kabir. He followed it up with another boundary off the penultimate ball of the over – making intentions clear about the launch pad to chase down the target.
Proteas brought up 100 runs with out loss in just 12.1 overs as Puttick brought up his half century in 31 balls pushing the Bangladesh Legends on back foot! Meanwhile van Wyk was steady in his approach as he reached his half ton in 52 balls.
The keeper batsman started accelerating after he reached his half century despite discomfort in his hamstring. Both batsmen remained unbeaten as they chased down the target in 19.2 overs despite it looking too close to comfort at one point.
Morne van Wyk (69*) and Andrew Puttick (82*) put on a tournament highest partnership beating the record held by Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag against the same opponents
With this win South Africa held themselves on to the third spot on points table and booked their berth in the semis. The winner between England and West Indies Legends will seal the semi-final spot.
Match Summary
Bangladesh Legends 160-9 in 20 overs
Aftab Ahmed 39 (24) – 1 four & 3 sixes
Hannan Sarkar 36 (31) – 2 fours & 1 six
South Africa Legends 161-0 in 19.2 overs
Andrew Puttick 82*(54) – 9 fours & 1 six
Morne van Wyk 69*(62) – 9 fours
SOUTH AFRICA LEGENDS WON BY 10 WICKETS
Player of the Match: Andre Puttick
Playing XIs:
South Africa: Andrew Puttick, Morne van Wyk (wk), Alviro Petersen, Jonty Rhodes (c), Zander de Bruyn, Justin Kemp, Garnett Kruger, Thandi Tshabalala, Monde Zondeki, Makhaya Ntini, Lloyd Norris Jones
Bangladesh: Nazimuddin, Mehrab Hossain, Aftab Ahmed, Hannan Sarkar, Rajin Saleh, Khaled Mashud (wk), Mohammad Rafique (c), Mushfiqur Rahman, Khaled Mahmud, Abdur Razzak, Alamgir Kabir
My dream team will feature Marcus Trescothick and Anil Kumble
