That's it from our coverage of the 8th match in the International Masters League. A comprehensive win for the South Africa Masters over England Masters. Thank you for joining us. Ninaad Dixit, Saptak Sanyal and scorer/analyst Manish Bishnoi signing off. Stay tuned for more action from around the world.
Jacques Kallis (South Africa Masters Captain):"I am a pleased captain. Nice to get off the mark. Great performance from the guys.
It happens in this format. The advantage was to win the toss. That gave us the momentum. It was nice to have Jonty back in the field and he brings a lot of energy in the field. All the guys coming back and showing the glimpse of their abilities is a good thing.
It is always nice to wear the South Africa jersey once again. It is indeed a special feeling. I will check how my back is doing tomorrow but it is nice to come to the field and play for the team."
Hashim Amla (Player of the Match): "Very good day. Both teams needed a win. Fortunately Jacques won the toss and made it a difference batting second.
Always had the doubt whether the ball would hit the middle of the bat. 160 was a decent total to be able to chase. It was good to get some time with the legs.
We just had to build a partnership. We knew that it was a nice wicket to bat on. Once I got a partnership with Alviro, the boundaries kept flowing. It just needs 1 or 2 overs to jump ahead and fortunately it worked out.
I got a chance to play a lot of T20s. Love to see how the players have evolved over the years."
Player of the Match: Hashim Amla
Eoin Morgan (England Masters Captain):"It is tough to defend the low target in this pitch. After a bit of a tricky start we managed to rebuild and scored a respectable score. The credit goes to Hashim Amla and Petersen for pulling the chase off.
Primarily in the last game, South Africa conceded a hat-trick so we tried to bring Monty early in the attack. I think in the first 10 overs where we batted, the balls were coming a bit slow onto the bat but it improved later. Now the dew played a factor as the match progressed."
10:27 PM: A Hashim Amla masterclass while chasing the innings has taken South Africa Masters up on the points table as they register their first victory in the International Masters League defeating the England Masters by 7 wickets and 11 deliveries to spare.
South Africa skipper Jacques Kallis won the toss and elected to bowl first making 2 changes in the side as Alviro Petersen and Jonty Rhodes were added to the playing XI. Both the English openers fell for ducks but half century from Tim Ambrose and some good late order hits from Chris Schofield and Chris Tremlett meant they got to a defendable score of 157/6.
South Africa lost Henry Davids for a duck in the very first over to Ryan Sidebottom with Jacques Kallis falling for 8 to Stuart Meaker inside the powerplay but it was Amla holding one end and getting boundaries more often than not.
Alviro Petersen making a comeback in the XI got off to a better start and played anchor in the 113-run partnership getting to his half century off 38 balls and was sent back by Meaker with the Proteas requiring just 7 off 13 balls.
Amla never looked out of touch and played some high quality strokes, running sharp runs with 10 fours and a maximum in his unbeaten 82 off 55 balls. He finished the game off in the 19th over with a boundary.
Stuart Meaker (2/34) was the pick of the bowlers but expensive, Ryan Sidebottom (1/18 in 3) got the early wicket and bowled a fantastic spell. Chris Schofield (0/29) and Monty Panesar (0/34) tried to contain the scoring rate but Amla and Petersen were just too good to milk continuous boundaries in the middle overs.
Stay tuned as we return with the post match presentation.