CARDIFF: South Africa finally got a World Cup win under their belts as they eased to a nine-wicket triumph over Afghanistan on Saturday to keep alive their hopes of reaching the semi-finals.

Leg-spinner Imran Tahir took 4-29, engineering an Afghan collapse after a 75-minute rain break as they were dismissed for 125. Chris Morris contributed with figures of 3-13 and Andile Phehlukwayo took two wickets.

The South Africans set about chasing a slightly adjusted target of 127 from 48 overs in cautious fashion, reaching 131-1 with 19 overs to spare.

Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock shared a 104-run opening wicket partnership before De Kock was dismissed for 68.

Amla finished on 41 not out and Phehlukwayo hit a six for the winning runs to end unbeaten on 17.

After three defeats and another game called off because of rain, Saturday’s match was always going to be a big chance for the South African team to get their first win.

But they still looked sloppy in the opening overs as Afghanistan dealt well with the new ball and were 69-2 when the teams went off for rain.

When they came back, however, they lost four wickets for the addition of one run in two overs, with Phehlukwayo taking the wicket of Mohammad Nabi and Tahir striking with his first delivery as he bowled Noor Ali Zadran for 32.

Tahir claimed a second victim four balls later and the wickets tumbled regularly after that.

A cameo of 35 from Rashid Khan took Afghanistan into three figures before he became Tahir’s fourth victim.

Tahir was named man of the match.

After their poor start to the tournament, South Africa effectively need to win their remaining four matches, starting with New Zealand in Birmingham on Wednesday, to make the last four.

STANDINGS

(Tabulated under played, won, lost, no-result, points, net run-rate):

Australia 5 4 1 0 8 +0.812

New Zealand 4 3 0 1 7 +2.163

England 4 3 1 0 6 +1.557

India 3 2 0 1 5 +0.539

Sri Lanka 5 1 2 2 4 -1.778

West Indies 4 1 2 1 3 +0.666

South Africa 5 1 3 1 3 -0.208

Bangladesh 4 1 2 1 3 -0.714

Pakistan 4 1 2 1 3 -1.796

Afghanistan 4 0 4 0 0 -1.638

Updated after South Africa vs Afghanistan match on Saturday

Scoreboard

AFGHANISTAN:

Batsmen & mode of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR

Hazratullah Zazai c van der Dussen b Rabada 22 23 3 0 95.65

Noor Ali Zadran b Imran 32 58 4 0 55.17

Rahmat Shah lbw b Morris 6 22 1 0 27.27

Hashmatullah Shahidi c du Plessis b Phehlukwayo 8 22 1 0 36.36

Asghar Afghan c and Imran 0 5 0 0 0.00

Mohammad Nabi b Phehlukwayo 1 2 0 0 50.00

Ikram Alikhil c Amla b Morris 9 33 0 0 27.27

Gulbadin Naib c Markram b Imran 5 11 0 0 45.45

Rashid Khan c van der Dussen b Imran 35 25 6 0 140.00

Hamid Hassan c du Plessis b Morris 0 3 0 0 0.00

Aftab Alam not out 0 1 0 0 0.00

EXTRAS (LB-4, W-3) 7 — — — —

TOTAL (all out, 34.1 overs) 125 — — — —

FALL OF WKTS: 1-39 (Hazratullah, 8.2 ov), 2-56 (Rahmat, 15.1 ov), 3-69 (Hashmatullah, 20.4 ov), 4-69 (Noor, 21.1 ov), 5-70 (Asghar, 21.5 ov), 6-70 (Nabi, 22.1 ov), 7-77 (Gulbadin, 25.2 ov), 8-111 (Ikram, 32.4 ov), 9-125 (Rashid, 33.5 ov), 10-125 (Hamid, 34.1 ov).

BOWLING: Rabada 8-1-36-1 (2w); Hendricks 5-1-25-0 (1w); Phehlukwayo 8-1-18-2; Morris 6.1-2-13-3; Imran Tahir 7-0-29-4.

SOUTH AFRICA:

Batsmen & mode of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR

H.M. Amla not out 41 83 4 0 49.39

Q. de Kock c Nabi b Gulbadin 68 72 8 0 94.44

A.L. Phehlukwayo not out 17 17 2 1 100.00

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-4) 5 — — — —

TOTAL (for one wkt, 28.4 overs) 131 — — — —

FALL OF WKT: 1-104 (de Kock, 22.5 ov).

DID NOT BAT: A.K. Markram, F. du Plessis, H.E. van der Dussen, D.A. Miller, C.H. Morris, K. Rabada, Imran Tahir, B.E. Hendricks.

BOWLING: Aftab Alam 5-1-16-0 (2w); Hamid Hassan 4-1-11-0; Rashid Khan 7-0-45-0 (1w); Gulbadin Naib 6-0-29-1; Mohammad Nabi 6.4-0-29-0 (1w).

RESULT: South Africa won by nine wickets.

UMPIRES: C.B. Gaffaney (New Zealand) and R.S.A. Palliyaguruge (Sri Lanka).

TV UMPIRE: I.J. Gould (England).

MATCH REFEREE: A.J. Pycroft (Zimbabwe).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Imran Tahir.

Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2019