Revived Proteas send England packing

HASHIM Amla lit the fire and AB de Villiers poured petrol on the flames.

When the smoke cleared in Chittagong yesterday SA had reached the semifinals of the World T20 by beating England by three runs.

Amla scored his maiden T20 half-century, 56 off 37 balls. Rarely has a cricket ball been so artfully dispatched.

De Villiers put the penthouse on SA’s tower of a total of 196/5, the biggest by any team in the tournament, with an unbeaten 69. He took 23 balls to reach 50 — the fastest T20 half-century by a South African — and faced 28 in all. Rarely has a cricket ball been brutalised so innovatively.

England reached 193/7 — a decent reply, but not good enough to stop a SA side that looked more like a team yesterday than they have so far in Bangladesh.

SA’s innings was launched with a stand of 90 between Amla and Quinton de Kock, the Proteas’ highest partnership in the competition.

De Kock’s dismissal brought De Villiers to the crease at No 3. Hitherto, De Villiers batted at No 4 in the face of calls for him to come in earlier.

England’s batting plan seemed centered on Alex Hales, whose 116 not out took them to 190/4 and victory against Sri Lanka on Thursday.

Not this time. Hales was reprieved on nine when Albie Morkel had him caught, only for umpire Rod Tucker to call a noball that never was. But he was gone for 38, one of two wickets Wayne Parnell took with consecutive deliveries in the throes of England’s crash to 105/4 in the 13th over.

Jos Buttler threatened to spark a revival, but Imran Tahir removed him for 34 to leave England to score 66 off the 32 deliveries that remained.

Albie Morkel left the field immediately after taking that catch. The ball had dislocated a finger, and he had it wrenched back into place on the boundary. Then he returned to the fray.

With that, the tension dissipated. England knew there was no way back from there against these hard men.

Instead, they were on their way back home.