An outstanding half-century from skipper Kieron Pollard and a collectively brilliant bowling performance helped West Indies script a fantastic fightback and level the ongoing five-match T20I series against South Africa this Thursday.
Pollard’s superlative 51 off just 25 balls allowed the hosts to post a score of 167/6 despite middle-order hiccups before Dwayne Bravo (4/19), and the rest of the bowling unit restricted the visitors to just 146/9. It brought West Indies back to winning ways.
The visitors won the toss and opted to bowl first in hope to set up a manageable chase for themselves in the second half. And for a while, despite opening batsman Lendl Simmons’ stand-out knock of 47, it did seem they are on track as the hosts lost a flurry of cheap wickets at the other end.
West Indies were 70/4 in just over 10 overs when Pollard walked up to the crease, which soon became 89/5 in 13.3 overs. It is then, one of the world’s most threatening power-hitter decided to take the game back to the opposition and blasted a half-century which allowed his team to reach past the 160-mark.
Spinners George Linde (2/16) and Tabraiz Shamsi (2/13) were once again difficult to line-up for the Caribbean batters.
In the run-chase, in-form Quinton de Kock played another exceptional hand and went past fifty (60 off 43 balls). He was, however, the only South African batsman to get going, with the rest simply not able to put the ball off the square consistently.
Aiden Markram was the second-highest run-maker with a run-a-ball 20 on a surface where the pace of the ball did the track for West Indies bowlers, especially Bravo.
As he did with the bat, skipper Pollard took the responsibility upon himself with the ball as well, delivering a spell of 1/24 off his four overs. Andre Rusell (2/30) contributed two wickets.
With their 21-run victory, West Indies overcame bitter defeats in the last two matches and reinforced their dangerous T20I side. The fifth and final T20I will be played on Saturday.
Brief scores:
West Indies 167/6 in 20 overs (Kieron Pollard 51*, Lendl Simmons 47; Tabraiz Shamsi 2/13, George Linde 2/16) beat South Africa 146/9 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 60, Aiden Markram 20; Dwayne Bravo 4/19, Andre Russell 2/30) by 21 runs.
