Pitch Report: Centurion has always been a good batting wicket, and today we might see it actually behave that way, unlike the last two matches here, on a new wicket. Quality bowlers can still thrive.
Toss: Sri Lankan captain Mathews calls heads and it is tails. South Africa have won the toss.
Faf du Plessis: We are going to bat first. It's a good wicket. Always enjoy batting in Centurion. Having a home World Cup helps not only in crowd support but you know the conditions so well, having played here all your life. We started with a great victory, but the games will only get tougher. Every win counts. Sri Lanka are a great side, certainly not to be underestimated. We'll need to continue to put in the hard yards. It'll be great to win in front of the home crowd. We're still going unchanged, so no Steyn yet. Our players have all done well, would be unfair to drop anyone now.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock , Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis , Jean-Paul Duminy, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen, Chris Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Imran Tahir
Angelo Mathews: We'll take that. The wicket seems good to bat on. If we bowl well straight up, the total shouldn't be anywhere out of reach for us. Last game was an exhibition of that, very happy with how the boys played and our bowlers definitely put on their best performance. However South Africa at their home turf are going to be a big challenge, but with our current form we should not let ourselves down. We're going unchanged, we haven't tinkered with our XI at all five games into our tournament, as all our players have done their spot justice. Should be a good contest.
It's yet another brilliant batting performance from Hashim Amla that does it for South Africa today. The opening duo of de Kock & Amla pick up where they left off last game, with a swashbuckling stand of 81 runs in just 7 overs, before the former departed. de Kock missed his fifty by just a run, scoring a lightning fast 23 ball 49- but Amla carried on, scoring 61 in the end which proved to be the backbone of the South African innings. Wickets then fell in quick succession to Pradeep & Thisara Perera, but Morris & Phehlukwayo's 20-ball partnership in the end carried the Proteas to 166. A solid enough score to defend?
Sri Lanka need 167 runs to win off 20 overs
@ 8.35 RPO
2nd Innings
South Africa have done the impossible! Lungi Ngidi and co pull off a stunning comeback to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in what seemed to be a cakewalk of a chase for Sri Lanka! The opening pair of Gunathilaka & Perera got off to a flyer, both of them reaching their half-centuries in style before Morris & Phehlukwayo managed to get rid of them to stall that bit of momentum. With Perera's wicket, only 40 runs were needed in the last 7 overs- it seemed like a sureshot Sri Lankan win. Until the South African bowling fought back- as Lungi Ngidi came on top with 3 wickets of the middle-order to completely derail the chase, with assistance from the others. Sri Lanka still needed only 7 in the final over, but a masterclass of a last over from Imran Tahir for 4 runs sealed the deal, as the Lankans fell agonizingly short by just two. The crowd erupts- Two in Two for the Home Team!
Pitch Report: The Wanderers pitch has always been batting friendly, and today will be so as well. The wicket is flat with little cracks, with grass on surface.
Toss: Virat Kohli calls tails and it lands on tails. India have won the toss.
Virat Kohli: We're going to bat first on this surface. It looks good, fresh and nice for batting. Certainly better than the last game we played. Think it would be ideal to put a good total on board first and then back our bowlers to defend it. We're playing against the defending champions, they're the ones who knocked us out of the last World T20 in a semi-final at our own home, went onto win, and are coming off a massive win to start this tourney as well. And with the batting ability some of their players have, we've seen in the IPL itself, it's going to be very competitive. We're coming off a win as well, against a long-time rival, it's definitely given us confidence and we know our abilities too. So we'll be going with an unchanged team, this should be a great contest.
Carlos Brathwaite: We started the tournament off well with a chase, so bring it on, we'll hopefully do it again. India are no small opponent, they are extremely consistent and tough to beat, and even as defending champions they might be above us in the favourites order. Our bowlers will need to be at their best, the chase won't be easy. But we bat deep, our all-rounder core is our strength and it will be ever so important for us in a match like today. We're known to have a destructive lineup, but we need to stay composed so we don't get too complacent. Everyone did well last game, so no team changes. We'll be going with the same XI, hopefully it gives us the same kind of result we had last match.
West Indies: Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Andre Fletcher , Marlon Samuels, Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo, Carlos Brathwaite , Sunil Narine, Ashley Nurse, Kesrick Williams
India won the toss and opt to bat first
1st Innings
The pair of Rohit Sharma & Shikhar Dhawan step up for India this match, getting twin fifties to ensure India post a strong total on the board. Rohit takes on the aggressor role as he has always done, while Dhawan steps on the backfoot to anchor at the other end as the Rohit-Dhawan partnership flourishes in it's most typical fashion. Rohit got to his fifty first but got out immediately after, ending a 68-run stand. Kohli & Dhawan then stitch a partnership of another 80 runs till the 16th over to get India well on course to a good score. Bravo removes the pair, but Dhoni comes in to provide the finishing touch in the end- as he always does, to propel India to 179/3. A strong score indeed. But is it enough against the West Indian juggernaut?
West Indies need 180 runs to win off 20 overs
@ 9.00 RPO
2nd Innings
STUMPS CLEAN BOWLED and JASPRIT BUMRAH does the honours for India as they shut down the West Indies' batting giant before the 20th over! The Universe Boss threatened to walk all over the Indian bowling with a destructive innings up top, but what good is it without any support? Courtesy Umesh Yadav and Yuzi Chahal, India constantly picked up wickets at the other end to stay well in the game; and then Krunal spun his magic to get rid of Gayle as well, effectively pulling the match entirely back into India's hands. Russell & Bravo tried to fight back but couldn't stay for long enough- and the incredible Windies batting depth appeared to crumble, as Bumrah finished things off with the last two wickets to close the Windies' innings for just 131. An all-round bowling effort wins another match for India- and it's Umesh Yadav the MOTM Again!
Pitch Report: The Durban Wicket will continue to be green, with grass on surface to assist the pacers more than any of the grounds in the tournament.
Toss: England skipper Eoin Morgan calls tails, and the coin lands on tails. England have won the toss.
Eoin Morgan: We'll bat first once again. Same ground, similar pitch, it's probably a good thing we have another game here on the trot as we were acclimatized to the conditions from the previous game. Certainly a bit tough to bat, but the bowlers do flourish. We had success batting first so we will follow the same template, hopefully by now we are more aware of how the wicket works and how we can exploit in both innings. No opponent is a light opponent. We do have one change in the XI, looking at workload management and rotation, Mark Wood has been rested, and Tom Curran comes into the XI. All our bowlers are capable so this should not hurt us, they're all good players and we hope to get another win today to get things going.
England: Jason Roy, Jos Buttler , Alex Hales, Eoin Morgan , Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, David Willey, Tom Curran , Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid
(Mark Wood )
Gary Wilson: Well that was a rough loss last game, tough pill to swallow, especially after coming off a 3 match win streak. Obviously, the Super 12 stage is a lot lot more competitive, West Indies as defending champions were not going to be a straightforward opponent in the slightest. England are another top side, so this will be a very tough game as well. We've beaten them before though, so we can do it again if we rectify the errors of last game- both batting and bowling. No changes to the side, it was one bad loss- the players have all done well before that and we know our best team, so we will be backing them.
Ireland - Paul Stirling, William Porterfield, Andrew Balbirnie, Kevin O'Brien, James Shannon, Gary Wilson , Simi Singh, George Dockrell, Barry McCarthy, Boyd Rankin, Peter Chase
England won the toss and opt to bat first.
1st Innings
It's Jos Buttler who stands out from the English batting performance yet again, not quite as much as last game; He was striking at 200 well on his way to another big score only to be run out ten runs short of fifty. The lack of support from the top-order continued to haunt England, but Ben Stokes & Jonny Bairstow stepped up this time to rescue the innings from being a total collapse. Ireland bowled well throughout to prevent any sort of death overs scoring surge that England would have ideally hoped for- and with a small cameo from Moeen Ali in the end they managed to reach 141. Another sub-par score for a batting lineup of their caliber, but can their bowlers once again pull off a magical defence?
Ireland need 142 runs to win off 20 overs
@ 7.10 RPO
2nd Innings
Death Bowling Masterclass from England yet again as TOM CURRAN blows away Ireland to avert yet another major scare! Ireland started off in the best possible fashion they would have hoped for- an 83 run stand between Stirling & Porterfield well above required run rate. It seemed like the chase was set until Rashid & Jordan removed the pair, and the wickets began to fall in quick succession after. But wait, captain Gary Wilson was not going to let this go into England's hands- five boundaries in a 13-ball 26 would have been the ideal finish in this scenario, but 4 WICKETS from Tom Curran, fresh into this side, repeatedly at the other end destroyed any kind of stability that Wilson would have hoped from the rest of the batting. It's Durban again, it's the England death bowling once again, delivering under pressure to prevent a major upset by the matter of inches!
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, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid
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