After two days of closely fought contests between full members and associates to start the 2026 Men's T20 World Cup, Oman and Canada have certainly let the side down with their performances against the two African full members today, though Canada's defeat by South Africa wasn't quite as comprehensive as Oman's against Zimabwe.

Put into bat, South Africa started with Aiden Markram and Quinton de Kock putting on 65 before the latter was out for 25. Markram then added another 56 with Ryan Rickleton before Markram was dismissed for 59, scored from 32 balls.

Markram celebrates his century

The South African fifth wicket pairing of David Miller and Tristan Stubbs were then able to put on an unbroken 75 with Miller scoring 39 and Stubbs contributing 34 as they racked up 213-4 from their 20 overs. Ansh Patel was the pick of the Canadian bowlers with 3-31.

In the Canadian reply only Navneet Dhaliwal (64 from 49 balls) and Harsh Thaker (33 from 29) emerged with any credit, with Saad Bin Zafar's 11 the only other double digit score. Lungi Ngidi took 4-31 as they were kept to 156-8 and lost by 57 runs.

South Africa's next match will be against Afghanistan on Wednesday, whilst Canada will wait until Friday for their second match, when they take on the UAE.