ESPNcricinfo Awards

ESPNcricinfo Awards 2022 Associate bowling winner: Brandon Glover KOs South Africa

Glover sealed the biggest upset of the World Cup by dashing South Africa's hopes of making the semi-final

For a bowler who rode the bench during the first part of Netherlands' T20 World Cup campaign, few would have expected the impact Glover made once he came into the starting XI during the Super 12 stage. After taking two wickets apiece against Pakistan and Zimbabwe, the fast bowler put an even bigger stamp on their encounter with South Africa.
Though Colin Ackermann was named Player of the Match by the adjudicators on the ground, Glover was named the ESPNcricinfo MVP in the win after his wickets were deemed to have a significantly greater statistical impact on the overall final result. It's hard to argue with that, especially after he claimed the big-fish combo of Rilee Rossouw and David Miller among his haul to derail South Africa's chase as well as their hopes of advancing to the semi-final.

Key moment

The 16th over of the chase, bowled by Glover, was the straw that broke the camel's back. South Africa needed 48 off 30 balls to win, with six wickets in hand. ESPNcricinfo's win probability at that stage had South Africa a shade in front at 51.09%.
Two balls into the over, Glover challenged David Miller with a short ball and a top-edged pull swirled over short fine leg to Roelof van der Merwe, who executed the catch of the tournament. Wayne Parnell was then suckered into chasing a wide delivery that he edged behind for a second-ball duck. At the end of Glover's over, the win probability had shifted dramatically in favour of the Netherlands to 79.66%, and they never looked back.

The numbers

6 Number of times Brandon Glover has taken three or more wickets in a T20I for Netherlands in his 24-match T20I career. Netherlands have won all six matches.
5 Netherlands' losses across all formats to South Africa, beginning with the 1996 World Cup, before beating them for the first time in Adelaide.

What they said

"Originally our decision was, we wanted to bowl first, but after the flyer we got off to when we batted first, we just thought this could work in our favour very well. Us as bowlers, we're just happy we could uphold our end of the job and finish it off."
- Brandon Glover

The closest contenders

Mark Watt
3 for 12 vs West Indies, T20 World Cup, Hobart

The left-arm spinner did his best to make bowling from 24 yards instead of 22 a hip new trend. His surprise deliveries, meant to throw off a batter's rhythm, produced the intended effect, claiming Brandon King, Alzarri Joseph and Odean Smith to help Scotland clinch a famous win.
Karthik Meiyappan
3 for 19 vs Sri Lanka, T20 World Cup, Geelong

UAE crashed to a lopsided defeat after being bowled out for 73 chasing a target of 153. But legspinner Meiyappan provided hopes of an upset during the first innings thanks to a hat-trick in the 15th over that included Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Charith Asalanka and Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka.

Peter Della Penna is ESPNcricinfo's USA correspondent @PeterDellaPenna