Anrich Nortje Delivers Career-Best Performance In T20 World Cup Victory

Anrich Nortje is "trying not to look too deep" at his career-best bowling figures in South Africa's win over Sri Lanka.

The Proteas' dominant bowling limited Sri Lanka to their lowest-ever T20I run total in their World Cup opener on Monday, securing a six-wicket victory.

Nortje stood out among the bowlers, earning player of the match after finishing with a career-best 4-7, helping to restrict Sri Lanka to 77 in the 20th over.

While Nortje was pleased with his performance, he quickly shifted the focus back to the team post-match.

"I've been feeling good, it just hasn't paid off in the last few games," he said. "It's great to finally get a result, some balls went my way, but I try not to look too deep into it."

"It's been a while since I've had those figures. Just happy to have pulled it off for the team. It's a great win for the team, everyone bowled really well. Kudos to the rest of the guys as well."

"Just to get some momentum going [is what matters], we've worked really hard and it's great to get a result."

Anrich Nortje loves the big stage! #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/iCZQJWuy9d

— T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) June 3, 2024

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka lamented their World Cup schedule as they will play at four different venues during the group stage, leading to awkward travel arrangements that could disrupt their tournament.

"So unfair for us, we have to leave every day [after the match] because we are playing [at] four different venues," Maheesh Theekshana said.

"It's unfair. The flight we took from Florida, from Miami, we had to wait like eight hours in the airport to get the flight. And we came around."

"We were supposed to leave at 8pm, but we got the flight at 5am. It's really unfair for us, but it doesn't matter when you play [on the field]."

However, captain Wanindu Hasaranga explained that the team were not using that as an excuse for their performance and understood that nothing could be changed at this stage even after complaints to the ICC.

Upcoming Matches

Next up for South Africa in the group is Netherlands on June 8 in New York, while Sri Lanka play Bangladesh on June 7 in Texas.