South Africa bowls first against the Netherlands in T20 World Cup

Aiden Markram won the coin toss and South Africa opted to bowl first against the Netherlands at the T20 World Cup on Saturday.

Both sides won their opening Group D games against Sri Lanka and Nepal, respectively, and have two points each.

The Dutch will be hoping for a hat trick of wins against the Proteas at ICC tournaments, after beating the South Africans at the 2022 T20 World Cup in Adelaide, Australia, and at the 2023 Cricket World Cup at Dharamsala, India.

Both teams kept the same playing eleven from the previous games.

The pitches at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium have been under scrutiny for their dual-paced nature. The ICC, which is cricket’s governing body, said Thursday that more work was undertaken to improve the wickets ahead of this weekend’s games.

There will be an intense spotlight on how the wicket behaves for this game, with the marquee clash between India and Pakistan at the same venue on Sunday.

Cricket rivals England and Australia meet later Saturday in a Group B game at Bridgetown, Barbados.

Lineups:
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (captain), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma.

South Africa: Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram (captain), Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Ottneil Baartman.

SOURCE: The Associated Press