South Africa wicket-keeper batsman, Quinton de Kock, bagged the record of the fastest half-century in T20I cricket for a Proteas player to his name en route to his 22-ball 65 against England in the second T20I of the series on Friday. While the effort is quickest for a South Africa, De Kock finds himself joint 6th in the overall list which is led by India’s Yuvraj Singh who had scored a 12-ball 50 against England in the 2007 World T20.
Following Yuvraj, sits Mirza Ahsan of Austria who had scored a fifty in just 13 balls against Luxembourg in 2019. Colin Munro of New Zealand (14), Faisal Khan of Saudi Arabia (15) and Shai Hope of West Indies (16) complete the top five.
Ireland’s Paul Stirling, Netherlands’ Stephan Myburgh and West Indies’ Chris Gayle are all tied at the 6th spot with De Kock, having scored their respective half-centuries in 17 balls.
After losing the first T20I against the Proteas a couple of days ago, the English Lions held on to their nerves to clinch the series leveller in a last-ball thriller. Jason Roy gave England a fine start at the top with his 29-ball 40 while Jonny Bairstow (35), Eoin Morgan (27), Ben Stokes (47) and Moeen Ali (39) all contributed with fine cameos to help the team post 204 runs on the board.
Chasing the target of 205 runs, South Africa started off brilliantly with De Kock and Temba Bavuma putting a 92-run stand for the first wicket. QDK, the hosts’ skipper, departed for 65 and Bavuma )31) soon followed him back to pavilion. David Miller (21), Rassie van der Dussen (43*) and Dwaine Pretorius (25), tried their bit to keep the chase alive until the end but they failed to chase 15 runs in the final over despite hitting 10 in the first three.
The final T20I, and the final match of England’s three-month tour, is on Sunday and the tourists have a chance at rounding off yet another fightback. England lost the first Test but turned it around to win the test series 3-1. They also fought back to draw the ODI series after losing the opener.
A T20I series victory for either team would be well-timed with the T20 World Cup this year in Australia.
