Bowlers shine as South Africa defeat Bangladesh by 6 wickets

South Africa beat Bangladesh by six wickets to strengthen their Men’s T20 World Cup semi-final hopes.

A dismal Bangladesh were bowled out for 84 with 10 balls to spare, having earlier stumbled to 24-3 and 45-6.

Anrich Nortje claimed a devastating 3-8, with fellow fast bowler Kagiso Rabada taking 3-20 in Abu Dhabi.

South Africa slipped to 33-3 to give Bangladesh hope before an unbeaten 31 from captain Temba Bavuma saw the Proteas home with 39 balls left.

South Africa are second in Group 1 behind England, with the top two teams qualifying for the knockout stages.

Third-placed Australia are also in contention for the semi-finals, but the Proteas have a superior net run-rate after the convincing win over Bangladesh.

The defeat eliminates Bangladesh, who face Australia on Thursday, while South Africa play England in their final group game on Saturday. Bangladesh went into this match knowing their semi-final hopes were all but over after losing their first three matches. They were also without all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who was ruled out of the rest of the tournament with a hamstring injury, for the first time in a T20 World Cup match since 2007.

They never got going with the bat, undone by the pace of first Rabada and then Nortje.

Rabada claimed three wickets in five balls to dismantle the top order, including trapping Soumya Sarkar for a first-ball duck, as Bangladesh struggled through the powerplay overs.

Chief scores

South Africa: 86/4 in 13.4 overs (Rassie Ven der Dussen 22, Temba Bavuma 31*, Quinton de Kock 16, Taskin Ahamed 2/18)

Bangladesh: 84 in 18.2 overs (Liton Das 24, Mahedi Hasan 27, Kagiso Rabada 3/20, Anrich Nortje 3/8 (BBC)