South Africa to field against Netherlands after winning toss
South Africa elected to field first after winning the toss against Netherlands in the 16th match of the T20 World Cup 2024, being played at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York on Saturday.
The proteas have a dominating win against Sri Lanka from the first World Cup match on their back, where the Islanders were bowled out for just 77 runs, their lowest total in T20Is.
On the other hand, the Netherlands defeated Nepal in their T20 World Cup opener. The Dutch bowled the entire Nepal team out for 106 runs and managed to chase the target without much trouble.
It is worth mentioning that the New York pitches have become a matter of concern among the cricket fraternity due to their unpredictable behaviour. Many teams expressed safety concerns for their players after playing at the venue.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) at first refused to comment on the pitch issue but after much criticism from renowned names, the cricket regulating body released a statement admitting that the pitches have not worked the way they thought.
“ICC recognises that the pitches used so far at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium have not played as consistently as we would have all wanted,” ICC conveyed in the statement.
“The world-class grounds team have been working hard since the conclusion of yesterday’s game to remedy the situation and deliver the best possible surfaces for the remaining matches.“
The drop-in pitches of the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium were brought from Adelaide, Australia to Florida where they were prepared for six months.
Playing XIs
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram (capt), Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Ottneil Baartman
Netherlands: Max O’Dowd, Michael Levitt, Vikramjit Singh, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Teja Nidamanuru, Bas de Leede, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma
More to follow…