South Africa hammer New Zealand, England beat Scotland

AHMEDABAD, India (AP):

Skipper Aiden Markram smacked 86 not out off 44 balls as South Africa beat New Zealand by seven wickets at the T20 World Cup yesterday.

Markram’s innings included four sixes and eight fours and underlined a dominant performance by the Proteas, as they won with 2.5 overs to spare.

South Africa finished with 178-3 in reply to New Zealand’s 175-7 after left-arm pacer Marco Jansen picked 4-40 in four overs.

It was New Zealand’s first defeat in the tournament, while South Africa moved one step closer to the next round with three successive wins in Group D.

In Kolkata, England rebounded with a five-wicket win over Scotland thanks to Tom Banton’s 63 not out off 41 balls.

In the morning game at Colombo, Ireland thumped Oman by 96 runs to record their first win in three games at this T20 World Cup. Oman became the first team to be eliminated from the competition.

A crowd in excess of 50,000 – the highest for this World Cup – watched South Africa power their way to a win against the Black Caps with relative ease.

Put into bat, Jansen struck against the in-form top order. He had Tim Seifert caught behind for 13, while also accounting for Rachin Ravindra (13) and Finn Allen (31) in the space of four deliveries.

When Keshav Maharaj bowled Glenn Phillips for 1, New Zealand were down to 64-4 in 6.4 overs.

They recovered thanks to 74 off 44 balls between Daryl Mitchell and Mark Chapman, who topscored with 48 off 26 balls. Mitchell scored 32 off 24 balls.

Jansen again provided the breakthrough as Chapman was out caught in the 14th over. New Zealand struggled to cross 180 thereafter, losing three wickets in 17 balls. James Neesham’s 23 not out gave them something to fight with.

But Markram set a hectic pace, smashing 50 off only 19 balls – the quickest for South Africa in tournament history.

It was also the third-fastest T20 half-century against New Zealand as South Africa reached 100 in 44 balls.

The other top-order batters made useful contributions, as Makram changed gears to see his side home with plenty to spare. New Zealand are now five matches without a win against South Africa in T20 World Cups.

England, desperately needing the victory following an unconvincing four-run win over Nepal and a loss to the West Indies, made 155-5 in 18.2 overs after the Scots were bowled out for just 152 in Kolkata.

Scotland wasted an ideal platform after getting to 90-3 in 10 overs, with the batters falling to mistimed sweep shots against the spinners.

England’s top-order batters Phil Salt, Jos Buttler and captain Harry Brook fell for single digits, but Banton put on 66 with Jacob Bethell (32) and 46 with Sam Curran (28) to lift the team to second in Group C behind West Indies. They next play Italy on Monday.