Nortje Defends Low-Scoring World Cup Match in New York

Anrich Nortje, who bowled South Africa to victory in a crucial World Cup match in New York, believes the low-scoring game was still entertaining despite criticism of the pitch and outfield.

Nortje, who took career-best T20I figures of 4-10, said he thought the game was "great" and that the entertainment was there.

"It doesn't always mean, correct me if I'm wrong, there needs to be 20 sixes in a game to make it entertaining," Nortje said. "There's still a lot of strategy that goes into the game. There's a lot of skill that goes into the game, whether it's sixes or fast bowlers or spinners, however it might be. So, I thought the game was a brilliant game. It was still a close game at the end of the day, another wicket or two, and things might have been different. We might have been in a little bit more trouble."

Nortje's comments come after Sri Lanka managed to make just 77 runs in their innings, with South Africa also struggling to chase down the target. The pitch was criticized for being uneven and the outfield for being slow, making scoring difficult.

However, Nortje said he didn't think there was anything wrong with the pitches.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with the wickets," he said. "It's [allowed to be] nice for bowlers as well. We are also allowed to get some sort of assistance. It's different to what guys have been used to for the last few months or years. There's a little bit more in the wicket for the bowlers and I don't see anything wrong with that."

Nortje's teammate Heinrich Klaasen agreed that the game was entertaining, but said he didn't think the pitch was ideal for T20 cricket.

"I don't think it's ideal for T20 cricket, but it's still a good entertaining game," Klaasen said. "Nevertheless our bowlers bowled extremely well. The margin for error for the bowlers is also not as big as you think. It's not easy for the batters. It took like almost a mixture of Test cricket, one-day, batting-wise to get over the line. Luckily we didn't chase 120. That would've been very interesting."

Despite the criticism of the pitch, both Nortje and Klaasen were happy with the atmosphere in New York.

"I said to the coach the DJ was on point, there was no interruptions from his side and the crowd was fantastic," Klaasen said. "You can see the people are excited for the competition."

Tags: #T20WorldCup, #AnrichNortje, #HeinrichKlaasen, #SriLanka, #SouthAfrica