Proteas' Tristan Stubbs, David Miller show why they are big-money players after Super Over heroics

Afghanistan’s players and their coach Jonathan Trott will wonder for the rest of their lives how they failed to beat the Proteas in arguably the most astonishing ICC T20 World Cup match ever yesterday.

It will perhaps never be the remotest consolation that it forced history to be rewritten with two Super Overs required to separate the sides by the barest of margins. 

Equally, the Proteas will reflect in amazement that it was ultimately them that came out on the right side after staring down the barrel as many as three times.

In tennis terms, they saved three match points, as they tied the actual match 187-187 by running out Afghanistan’s last man; then went to play two tie-breaks with the first tied at 17-17 all after Tristan Stubbs hit the last ball for six; before triumphing 23-19 when Keshav Maharaj held his nerve not to be struck for a fourth six. 

It all formed part of a sensational game of cricket with skills, thrills and spills all on show in abundance. 

“Cricket sucks. That's the number one thought, I think,” Ryan Rickelton, who top scored with 61 in the regulation game, chirped afterwards. 

“It was an absolute whirlwind of a game. We were all in it. We rode the emotions, obviously, just like everyone else did.

“It was a cracking game. I actually don't even have many words to describe it. Just really chuffed we got over the line in the end.”

While Rickelton and Quinton de Kock (59) had set the game up with a 114-run second-wicket stand to push the Proteas up to 187/6, they would not have the faintest idea of the high drama that would ensue. 

Kagiso Rabada had 13 runs to defend in the final over of Afghanistan’s chase, and had all but sealed the victory when Noor Ahmad was caught in the covers off the first ball. But to Rabada and the Proteas’ despair it was no-ball, and from theron the chaos spiralled. 

Rabada would bowl a further wide, be struck over mid-wicket for six by the tailender, send down another no-ball, before gathering the ball to dive towards the stumps to run out Fazalhaq Farooqi to send the match into a Super Over. 

It was gut-wrenching stuff, but Rickelton only had words of consolement for the big Proteas fast bowler after his meltdown. 

“KG, we'll give him a bit of time, but we'll get our arms around him,” he said. “We'll probably get a couple of drinks down him later. And yeah, he's one of us through thick and thin, so he's always going to be there.”

From thereon it was left to Lungi Ngidi, who was named Player of the Match for the second consecutive game, to bowl the first Super Over before Dewald Brevis, David Miller and Tristan Stubbs were entrusted with getting the runs. 

Rickelton spoke candidly of the anxiety the team were feeling at that stage.

“All of us sitting there, upstairs fingers crossed, like come on guys, just one more, more in hope than anything,” he said.

“But I mean, that's why you got guys like Miller and Stubbs, guys that can finish games, that can hit those low full tosses for six, and that last shot of Stubbo to hit that low full toss for six to take us to the second Super Over proves exactly why they're worth their money.”

But it was not over yet. Although Miller and Stubbs belted three sixes in the second Super Over to power the Proteas to 23, they were looking on in almost disbelief as Rahmanullah Gurbaz was snatching the game away from them again.

Gurbaz struck three consecutive sixes, with a fourth driving Afghanistan to a sensational win, but Keshav Maharaj held his nerve in the clutch moment to have the right-hander caught at cover. Everyone could finally breathe with the Proteas’ not even able to celebrate their victory as all their emotions had been exhausted by then.

“I said to Dave, who was next to me, I said, come on, two dots, we win this game,” Rickelton said. “And then we get hit for three sixes in a row. Obviously, the cat is among the pigeons there, so we were just standing there saying surely not, this can't be, this can't be real!

“But I guess we’re just over the moon that we managed to get over the line.”

ICC T20 World Cup, Group C

South Africa: 187/6 (Rickelton 61, De Kock 59, Omarzai 3/41, Rashid 2/28)

Afghanistan: 187 all out (Gurbaz 84, Ngidi 3/26, Maharaj 1/27)

Super Over 1

Afghanistan 17/0 (Omarzai 16*, Ngidi 0/17)

South Africa: 17/1 (Stubbs 10*, Brevis 6*, Farooqi 1/17)

Super Over 2

South Africa: 23/0 (Miller 16*, Stubbs 7*, Omarzai (0/23)

Afghanistan: 19/2 (Gurbaz 18, Maharaj 2/19)

South Africa won by the Super Over