Although South Africa have been knocked out of ICC T20 World Cup 2021, Kagiso Rabada led a late charge to wipe off the English middle order with a 20th-over hattrick and carry the Proteas to a consolation victory on Saturday.

Coming to the final over, Rabada had already conceded 45 runs in his first three overs. England needed 14 runs from the final six balls to continue their winning streak. In his first three deliveries, Rabada bagged the wickets of Chris Woakes, Eoin Morgan and Chris Jordan to break the spine of the English lower middle-order and carry South Africa over the line. This is the third hattrick of the tournament. 

After setting a target of 190, the Proteas needed to bowl England out within 131 runs to make their way into the semi-finals. However, that was not to happen. With healthy contributions from the top order, England looked on track to chase the score down. In the middle overs, Liam Livingstone clubbed Rabada for three consecutive sixes, including a 112-metre-long effort, to eliminate South Africa. 

However, the Proteas weren’t ready to give up as they rallied back to squeeze out the runs and keep up a modest asking run rate. In the final over, with Woakes on strike, Rabada started off with a full, wideish delivery and as the all-rounder tried to clear the deep midwicket boundary, Anrich Nortje picked a clean catch near the ropes. 

In the next delivery, Eoin Morgan, still looking for the big runs, tried to club a length ball from Rabada but the England skipper was done by the slower variation as he ended up chipping it to Keshav Maharaj in the deep backward square leg. 

After losing two wickets on the trot, desperate to reach the finishing line, Jordan tried to clear the long-off fielder off another slower delivery but ended up lofting it up only for the safe hands of David Miller to gulp it down. Following up the hattrick, Rabada only allowed three runs from his next three deliveries to give South Africa a 10-run victory over England.