Quinton de Kock, Tabraiz Shamsi and Anrich Nortje helped set up the visitors’ win by a run in Grenada as South Africa took an impressive 2-1 lead over defending world champions West Indies in the ongoing five-match T20I series this Tuesday.
In another closely fought contest, noteworthy performances from opening batsman De Kock, wrist-spinner Shamsi and pacer Nortje allowed the Proteas to inch ahead and come out victorious by the nearest possible margin. Much to the disappointment of the Windies, their lengthy batting unit once again failed to come to the party and conceded a series lead to the opposition.
As it happened, De Kock’s superlative knock of 72 off 51 deliveries kept SA afloat through the first half despite their middle-order not quite standing up to the task. Outside of Aiden Markram’s 23 and Rassie van der Dussen’s useful 32 off 24 balls, there wasn’t much support at the other end for De Kock, who took his team to a competitive total of 167/8.
Obed McCoy (4/22) and Dwayne Bravo (3/25) were the pick of the bowlers for West Indies and ensured their team restricted the opposition below the 170-180 mark which they would’ve aspired.
In the run-chase, West Indies, who were experimenting with their batting unit by resting Chris Gayle and Andre Fletcher, got off to a very good start with Evin Lewis (27) and comeback man Lendl Simmons (22) providing a solid foundation. Adopting contrasting approaches, the duo managed to take West Indies to 55/0 in just over six overs.
But then the hosts lost their way, losing not just Lewis and Simmons in quick succession but also their promoted middle-order men Jason Holder (16) and Shimron Hetmyer (17) soon thereafter. It was Shamsi who brought South Africa back in the contest at that stage with the breakthroughs of Lewis and Hetmyer, another West Indies batsman making his comeback to the XI.
Once they had the opening, South Africa didn’t allow the rest of the West Indies batting unit to get going, with Nicholas Pooran only managing 27 runs off his 28 balls and skipper Kieron Pollard (1) not troubling the scorers much.
When the hosts needed 44 off the last four overs, Andre Russell (25) did raise their hopes with a couple of maximums against Nortje, but the pacer dismissed the danger man when he had him mistime a shot to the mid-on fieldsman. Nortje then got Pooran out as well after he had brought the equation down to 19 off 12 balls with a big hit. The pacer gave away only four runs off the penultimate over.
Kagiso Rabada didn’t have much of a problem defending 14 off the final over, with Fabian Allen’s (14*) last-ball six only reducing the margin of defeat for the West Indies. In a series where they were expected to be dominated, South Africa are now ahead by a 2-1 margin thanks to some important contributions from their players.
Brief scores
South Africa 167/8 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 72, Rassie van der Dussen 32; Obed McCoy 4/22, Dwayne Bravo 3/25) beat West Indies 166/7 in 20 overs (Evin Lewis 27, Nicholas Pooran 27; Tabraiz Shamsi 2/13, Anrich Nortje 2/29) by 1 run.
