Last-ball thriller sees South Africa edge Nepal by 1 run

The Proteas go into the Super Eight with a perfect record

T20 World Cup, South Africa, Group D, Nepal, Tabraiz Shamsi, Proteas, Super Eight, Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks

It came down to the final ball.

Nepal needed two runs. Gulsan Jha could not get his bat on the delivery, but the batters took off anyway. Wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock threw the ball. It deflected off Jha to Heinrich Klaasen, who knocked down the stumps at the non-striker’s end just before Jha could reach safety.

By the finest of margins, the Proteas were able to cling to their perfect record in Group D of the T20 World Cup on Saturday at the Arnos Vale Ground in St Vincent, winning the match by a single run.

It had seemed done and dusted well before that, and in Nepal’s favour no less.

The minnows won the toss and sent South Africa into bat. Despite a solid 43 off 49 deliveries from opener Reeza Hendricks and a crucial 27* off 18 from Tristan Stubbs, the Proteas were only able to post 115/7 in their 20 overs – an underwhelming total even in a low-scoring tournament.

The keys for Nepal were Kushal Bhurtel, the opening batsman and leg-spinner who took a remarkable 4 scalps for 19 runs, and the versatile Dipendra Singh Airee, who grabbed 3 wickets for 21.

Thanks to Aasif Sheikh (42 off 49) and Anil Sah (27 off 24), Nepal seemed on course for a historic upset.

But the difference was Tabraiz Shamsi, the left-arm spinner, who took a crucial 4 wickets for 19 runs.

He bowled out both Bhurtel and captain Rohit Paudel in the eighth over to leave Nepal unsteady at 35-2. Then, in the 18th over, just as Nepal seemed assured of victory, he came back to snap up the crucial wickets of Airee and Sheikh.

After that it came down to the wire and, with a stroke of luck, South Africa came out on top.

It was another nervy win for the Proteas, but for a team that has perpetually fallen short of international glory, some good luck is perhaps overdue.