After an excellent year in white-ball cricket, South Africa went into the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia with high hopes. They were considered one of the teams that had a great chance of going all the way.
Unfortunately for the Proteas, they were eliminated in the Super 12s, failing to make the knockout stages of the tournament. Victory over the Netherlands in their final group game would have been enough to reach the last four, but they were upset by the Dutch side by 13 runs.
Overall, South Africa won two of their five matches in Australia. They hammered Bangladesh by 104 runs, while against India, they were successful by five wickets, a victory which left many South Africans excited by their prospects.
What ultimately proved costly for South Africa was their no result against Zimbabwe. They had restricted their opponents to just 79 runs in their match early in the Super 12s. South Africa was 59/0 after just three overs in their response, before the rain came down and it ended a tie. That was one point lost for Temba Bavuma’s side.
South Africa eventually finished on five points in Group Two, a point behind Pakistan, who secured the second qualifying space with six points. Pakistan won their final three matches of the group stages to book their spot in the semi-final. They eventually finished runners-up in the tournament.
BACK 2⃣ BACK
Seamer @AnrichNortje02 has backed up his 2021 selection by being named in the 2022 #T20WorldCup MVP Team of the Tournament 👏#BePartOfIt pic.twitter.com/Q4mMIy121y
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) November 15, 2022
Although it will feel like an opportunity lost, South Africa have shown they came a long way since they hit rock bottom in 2019. As you can read on https://www.2oceansvibe.com/, their prospects did not look good just three years ago. They now have one of the best players of the tournament in Anrich Nortje.
England was successful in the T20 World Cup for the second time in history when they defeated Pakistan in the final. It is another major trophy for England in white-ball cricket, and they are setting the hallmark for the style of cricket needed to be successful in major tournaments.
With Jos Buttler, Alex Hales, Ben Stokes, and Moeen Ali, they have lots of match-winners in their batting line-up. They produced some impressive performances in Australia, most notably in their semi-final success against India where they prevailed by 10 wickets.
Good morning England fans! 🏴🏆 pic.twitter.com/HfM0eIib1p
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) November 14, 2022
What will be frustrating for South Africa is that they defeated England in a T20 series on their tour of the country earlier this year. They won two of their three T20 matches against the home side, with victories coming in Southampton and Cardiff. The full scorecard on the latter can be found at https://www.icc-cricket.com/.
In those three matches in England, it was South Africa who played the most attacking cricket. They scored over 200 runs at the Sophia Gardens in a 58-run success, while at the Rose Bowl, they scored 191, which was enough for a 90-run victory. At the end of the three matches, the visitors looked to be in great form heading into the T20 World Cup.
South Africa’s wait for a maiden T20 World Cup success goes on. This year’s tournament was their eighth appearance, and they haven’t yet reached a final. The closest they have come was the last four in 2009 and 2014. However, South Africa has some exciting players who will have learned a lot from the experience in Australia, so they could be better prepared for the challenge in 2023.
Betting is already available on the Cricket World Cup in 2023 and South Africa will be hoping they can lift the trophy at the tournament in India next year. They are +800 outsiders with 888sport to come out on top in the 50-overs competitions. Those looking to back the Proteas should analyze the best sign-up offers available at https://www.sbo.net/ before doing so. They will also find the top recommended bookmakers, which may help bettors determine which to choose to place their wagers. Some of these have features on their app and website that may suit some better than others.
India tops the early betting with the majority of the leading bookmakers on the recommended list. They will have home advantage as they look to win the tournament for the first time since 2011. Defending champions England are also prominent in that outright market, which is no surprise as many of their heroes from Australia will be looking for more success in limited-overs cricket when they head to the sub-continent at the back end of next year.
South Africa is next in action in the Test arena when they face Australia away from home. They will then host world champions England in three ODIs on home soil in early 2023.
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