A win is a win, ou pêl

South Africa’s emphatic win over Afghanistan makes New Zealand loom slightly smaller.

Sunday Times

TELFORD VICE at Sophia Gardens

“I’M Still Standing,” no doubt rose raucously into Cardiff’s night sky from the Elton John concert down the road here on Saturday.

It would have been as much an anthem for wrinkly rockers — John is 72 — as for South Africa, who are raging hard against the dying of their World Cup light.

Needing a win to keep alive what may yet turn out to be the pretence of their hunt for a semi-final berth, Faf du Plessis’ team did more than that.

They won emphatically, dismissing their opponents for 125 and chasing down their revised target of 127 inside 29 of their 48 overs to clinch victory by nine wickets.

That those opponents were Afghanistan, who know more about surviving war than they do about playing cricket at this level, was of little consequence in the context of the match.

A win is a win, ou pêl. And this one was much needed, and for reasons beyond the log.

New Zealand now loom ever so slightly smaller at Edgbaston on Wednesday.

Having arrived at the tournament as self-declared outsiders, South Africa proceeded to prove the point beyond doubt by shambling to defeats against England, Bangladesh — how, exactly? — and India, and needing a washout to spare them after West Indies reduced them to 29/2 in 45 deliveries.

So it was a joy to see Imran Tahir tear through a batting order, taking his first three wickets for as many runs in a haul of 4/29, supported by a seam attack that refused to take their foot off their quarries’ throats.

Kagiso Rabada’s deliveries screamed past the bat impressively often, while Chris Morris and Andile Phehlukwayo were full value for their returns of 3/13 and 2/18.

Hazrat Zazai and Noor Ali Zadran negotiated the first rain interruption, in the sixth over, and lasting 26 minutes, and were separated in the ninth having put up a sturdy enough stand of 39.

But there was no coming back for the Afghans when, after 20 overs, the rain returned and halted play for 66 minutes.

They lost five wickets across 29 balls in the six overs after the resumption, and their last nine crashed for 69 runs.

Then Hashim Amla improved on his previous best in this tournament — 13 against England — in a stand of 104 with Quinton de Kock that all but completed the job. Amla was 41 not out while De Kock made his second 68 of the event.

There was poetry in the fact that, at exactly 7.20pm, Amla smeared Mohammad Nabi over midwicket with a stroke that was a glimpse of the creaking veteran’s old aggression, but a jolting departure from the measured way he has played for most of his career.

Also at 7.20pm, Elton John stepped onstage, unknowing that South Africa’s hopes were still alive.

Like a candle in the wind.