A dream run continues, another ends: South Africa demolish Afghanistan to reach maiden World Cup final

WHAT HAPPENED?
A clinical South Africa skittled Afghanistan for 56 on their way to a comprehensive 9-wicket victory in the first semi-final in Trinidad on Wednesday, sending the Proteas into their first ever final. It was a first victory in eight short-format World Cup semi-finals going back to 1992 for South Africa.

South Africa ripped through the Afghan batting in less than 12 overs to restrict their shellshocked opponents to their lowest ever score in T20Is. Fazalhaq Farooqi bowled Quinton de Kock early, but Reeza Hendricks and skipper Aiden Markram got the Proteas to their target without further losses inside 9 overs. It was a demoralising end to Afghanistan’s fantastic run in the tournament where they beat New Zealand, Australia and Bangladesh to reach their maiden semifinal.


PITCH TROUBLE
The pitch at Brian Lara Stadium has come in for sharp criticism from players and observers after wildly misbehaving throughout the match. “… that’s not the pitch that you want to have a match, a semi-final of a World Cup on, plain and simple,” Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott said when asked what he made of the pitch.

“T20 is about attacking and about scoring runs and taking wickets, not looking to survive.” Even the winning captain wasn’t impressed. “Yeah, I mean T20 cricket as a whole, you want entertainment,” South Africa captain Aiden Markram said.

"Tonight’s wicket was pretty challenging. It’s hard to say that a wicket is not good because it can’t just always be a batter’s game, but I think if we reflect back on this wicket, we’ll probably be pretty happy that we’re not playing here again.”

WHAT DO THE NUMBERS SAY?

• South Africa made it to the final of a men’s World Cup, ODI or T20I, for the first time.
• 56, Afghanistan’s lowest in total T20Is. Previous lowest was 72 all out vs Bangladesh in the 2014 T20 World Cup.
• Afghanistan’s 56 all out is now the lowest total by any team in a knockout match at the T20 World Cup.
• The previous lowest was 101, by West Indies vs Sri Lanka in 2009 semi-final and by Sri Lanka vs West Indies in the 2012 final.