A little bit of history beckons this week when South Africa and Afghanistan battle it out for their maiden ICC World Cup final appearance.
South Africa beat hosts West Indies by three wickets on Monday and finished top of Group B. All of Australia, Afghanistan and Bangladesh were still in it with a chance for the runners-up spot for Group A with the Proteas lying in wait.
South Africa won all three of their Super Eight fixtures en route to their semi-final qualification, and – having had two attempts at glory in 2009 and 2014 only to fall short on both occasions – they’ll hope its third time lucky.
Despite being unbeaten so far, the men in green and gold have survived a few close encounters on their way to the semi-finals, and captain Aiden Markram believes they are yet to play their best match in the tournament.
The 2024 ICC T20 World Cup will have a first-time finalist, and confirmation of Afghanistan’s entry into the penultimate round of the tournament will also see a second T20 World Cup clash between the two countries. South Africa won the first encounter during the 2016 edition of the global tournament by 37 runs.
Afghanistan beat Bangladesh by eight runs DLS (DuckWorth Lewis System) in a thrilling encounter that could have gone either way. The Blue Tigers had set their adversaries a 116 runs target which they needed to achieve in 12.1 overs due to the match being affected by rain.
Bangladesh lost early wickets thanks to pressure from the Afghanistan bowlers and fell agonisingly close to their target.
Afghanistan went into the fixture against Bangladesh with their fate in their own hands after they defeated Australia by 21 runs earlier in the week. The Aussies went on to lose their second match in a row after suffering a 24 run loss at the hands of Group A winners India.
The hope for the 2021 champions would have been for Bangladesh to get one over Afghanistan, but it was not to be for both sides.
The Proteas will go head-to-head with the Blue Tigers in the first of two semi-finals at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday morning (2.30am).
The winner of that game will play either India or England, who will clash at the Guyana National Stadium in Guyana on Thursday at 4.30pm.
The Mercury