ICC Men’s T20 World Cup: Quinton de Kock helps South Africa beat USA in close finish

Quinton de Kock hit a blistering half-century as South Africa defeated a battling United States by 18 runs in their opening ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Super Eights clash on Wednesday.

The Proteas piled up 194/4 off their 20 overs after being put in to bat before restricting the USA to 176/6 at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.

However, the USA, who stunned former champions Pakistan in the first round, were close to another upset when Andries Gous (80 not out) and Harmeet Singh (38) put on 91 for the sixth wicket.

Opening batter de Kock, his country’s leading run-maker in the format, reached his 15th T20 international fifty off 26 balls.

He was eventually dismissed for 74 with seven fours and five sixes in a 40-ball innings which was comfortably his best performance of the tournament.

In four previous outings at the World Cup, the 31-year-old had a best of just 20 against Sri Lanka.

“We’ve had some tricky wickets so it was nice to spend some time in the middle today. The USA put us under pressure towards the end. It was a great game,” said de Kock after South Africa had struggled for runs on the slow wickets of the US in the first round.

USA skipper Aaron Jones admitted...

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