T20 World Cup: South Africa easily defeats Sri Lanka to begin their campaign, while Anrich Nortje makes a triumphant return.

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If the IPL was about teams attempting to surpass the 300-run mark, Big Apple cricket threatens to make 150 appear unattainable. The South African seamers bared their fangs on a drop-in pitch in New York that originated in Adelaide and grew in Florida. The pitch played like a mix of Centurion and Colombo tracks, with the ball often kicking up with seam movement and occasionally dying down, bouncing in front of the wicketkeeper or stopping on the batsmen. And Sri Lanka lost by a score of 77.

While South Africa’s batsmen also found it tough to get going, the islanders adjusted to the circumstances in the second innings by using medium pacers Dasun Shanaka and Angelo Mathews in the Powerplay. Unsurprisingly, though, the target proved challenging to defend.

After winning the toss, Sri Lanka will probably come to regret choosing to bat first. The Sri Lankan spinners had the ball halting a bit towards the conclusion of the chase, after ten overs, which made shotmaking even more challenging.

This was in stark contrast to the unrelenting run-fests that took place during the nearly two-month-long Indian Premier League; however, it is unclear if this is a precursor to things to come or if the drop-in pitches eventually calm down.

Kagiso Rabada was the only South African player to make a mistake on the field as he stumbled and fell while releasing his opening ball. The bowlers would frequently stand mid-pitch and wince at a ball that had just beaten the bat, or they would look menacingly at the batters for the remainder of the game. Perhaps even laugh at their hardships, as seamen Ottneil Baartman occasionally did.

In his opening two overs, Baartman shone above the usual suspects from South Africa, including Anrich Nortje (who troubled them with pace and bounce while allying them with his yorkers), Marco Jansen (who bowled an incredible first over in which the ball kicked past the bat a few times), and a steady Rabada (who didn’t have to extend himself much but hit varied lengths).

As he nibbled the ball in both directions to truly put Kusal Mendis’s technique to the test, they entered the Powerplay. Baartman became the first South African to take a wicket in a World Cup, doing it with his very first delivery and ball. However, it was arguably the least dangerous ball of the match for him, as Nissanka smashed a long ball outside off into Heinrich Klassen’s hands at third man.

Maybe South Africa would be more excited about Nortje’s injury comeback. He got Kamindu Mendis to wrist a pick-up shot to deep square-leg in the eighth over. He bounced at Kusal Mendis in the tenth over, but his attempt at a pull only resulted in the ball being pulled into deep square-leg. Then, in the 12th over, Asalanka gave him a wicket by flicking a half-volley straight to deep backward square-leg. When Mathews mishandled a pull in the fifteenth over, the bouncer did the trick, and Nortje finished with four overs at four wickets.

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