The 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup is continuing – as I type the USA are facing off against the Netherlands. This post looks back briefly at three very different fixtures.
WHEN ONE SUPER OVER DOES NOT SUFFICE
The match between Afghanistan and South Africa had more twists and turns than a mountain road. At various stages each side looked like winning but at the end of regular play the scores were tied- 187 each. Afghanistan looked in control of the first Super Over but a spectacular finish by South Africa saw that one tied. South Africa batted first in the second Super Over and score 23 from their over. When the first two balls of the reply were a dot and wicket it looked all over, but then Ramanullah Gurbaz hit three successive sixes to bring Afghanistan back into contention. A wide then reduced the ask to five, but off the final ball Gurbaz’s luck finally ran out as he was caught in the deep, and South Africa took the points.
TWO UPSETS
Italy do not have any great reputation as a cricketing nation, while Nepal had given England an almighty scare in their previous outing and are generally considered only just outside the elite. Yet when these sides met Italy won by ten wickets with an absurd amount of time to spare.
This morning Zimbabwe faced Australia. Zimbabwe have a good record against Australia in World Cup matches, stretching back to 1983 when Zimbabwe won the first match they ever played at a world cup by beating Australia. Therefore an upset was always a live possibility. A Zimbabwe total of 169-2 meant that they were certainly in the game going into the second half of the contest. Brian Bennett, a hugely impressive young opener, had anchored the Zimbabwe innings with 64 not out, while Tadiwanashe Marumani and Ryan Burl each scored 35, and Sikandar Raza hit 25 not off 13 balls at the end. Blessing Muzarabani and Brad Evans bowled superbly and soon had Australia right on the ropes at 29-4. Glenn Maxwell and Matt Renshaw launched a fightback, but then Maxwell was out, and Stoinis lasted only four balls before being well caught. Zimbabwe looked in control for most of this innings, but the moment that effectively killed any chance of a miraculous recovery came with a mere eight further balls to come – Renshaw was caught by Burl of Muzurabani to make it 139-8, 31 needed off eight and only tail enders left. Adam Zampa scored two off the fifth ball of the 19th over, but then Muzurabani bowled him to make 141-9 after 19 overs, 29 needed off the last over with numbers 9 and 11 together. Muzurabani had the extraordinary figures of 4-0-17-4. Three balls and five runs later it was all over, Matthew Kuhnemann being run out to end proceedings. Zimbabwe had won by 23 runs, and had looked in charge for most of the match. This result has created the intriguing possibility of the cricketing superpower that is Australia failing to make the final eight.
PHOTOGRAPHS
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