Published: Mar 12, 2015, 02:14 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 12, 2015, 02:17 PM (IST)
South Africa have beaten UAE comprehensively by 146 runs in their ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Pool B encounter at Wellington. The UAE batsmen were outclassed by South African attack on all counts. Most UAE batsmen couldn’t even offer any sort of resistance. Good bowling and scoreboard pressure weighed down heavily on them. LIVE BLOG: South Africa vs UAE ICC Cricket World Cup 2015
Opener Amjad Ali looked quite good against the South African bowling early on but lost his wicket for 21 when spinner JP Duminy came on. Andri Raffaelo, on the other hand never got going and was bounced out by Morne Morkel for five of 21 balls. Live Scorecard: South Africa vs UAE
Khurram Khan, arguably UAE’s best batsmen, was also unable to deal with the steep bounce and pace that Morkel was procuring and got out for 12 off 17 balls. Shaiman Anwar, UAE’s leading run scorer in the tournament, got a start but was unable to make anything meaningful of it. He got out for 39 to Imran Tahir. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Pool-wise Team Standings
Once the match was well within control, AB de Villiers decided to utilise his bowling abilities and he struck not once but twice. He took thew wickets of Saqlain Haider and Amjad Javed in quick succession. He used the short ball to lure batsmen into hitting him and they fell for the trap and got out. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: POINTS TABLE
Swapnil Patil batted well but with wickets falling all around him couldn’t make too much off a difference to the complexion of the innings. He finall was left stranded at 57 not-out when the ninth and final wicket fell. Fahad Alhashmi couldn’t bat since he was injured.
In the first innings, South Africa posted a sizable total of 341 for 6 against United Arab Emirates (UAE) in their ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 match at Wellington. UAE should will be disappointed that they didn’t finish better given that they picked wickets at regular intervals. The top scorer for South Africa yet again happened to be de Villiers. Top 10 bowlers in ICC Cricket World Cup 2015
South Africa didn’t have a fabulous start to their match. Hashim Amla got out for just 12 runs after being rattled by a Mohammad Naveed beamer a couple of overs prior to his dismissal. Quinton de Kock, was in search of form and tried his best to regain it against UAE. He was accompanied by Rilee Rossouw at the other end and the two built quite a good partnership.
Rossouw was scoring at a very good nick early on but when the spinner and skipper Mohammad Tauqir came in to bowl, his run flow was stifled. Meanwhile de Kock never really got going and got out for 26 to the bowling of Amjad Javed. Rossouw got out soon after for 43 off 49 deliveries in a caught and bowled dismissal to Tauqir.
David Miller and de Villiers then came out and they built on a solid partnership of 108 runs before Miller got out for 49. But de Villiers went on to get his fifty and looked well set for a hundred but even he missed the landmark by a single run getting out on 99 holing out to short third man off Javed’s bowling.
Farhaan Behardien in the end ensured South Africa got past the 300-run mark and scored runs at a healthy strike rate and ensured that the loss of de Villiers wasn’t felt with as much intensity. Behardien finished with 64 of 31 balls to take South Africa to 341.
Brief scores:
South Africa 341 for 6 in 50 overs (AB de Villiers 99, Farhaan Behardien 64*; Mohammad Naveed 3 for 63) beat UAE 195 for 9 in 47.3 overs (Swapnil Patil 57*, Shaiman Anwar 39; AB de Villiers 2 for 15) by 146 runs.
Man of the Match: AB de Villiers
(Rishad D’Souza, a reporter with CricketCountry, gave up hopes of playing Test cricket after a poor gully-cricket career. He now reports on the sport. You can follow @RishadDsouza on Twitter)
