Clinical West Indies seal series

A collective effort with bat and ball helped West Indies come up with a clinical performance in the second T20I against South Africa as they registered a 30-run victory at Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba. Shai Hope’s 22-ball 41 was complemented by good contributions from Alick Athanaze, Rovman Powell and Sherfane Rutherford as West Indies posted 179/6. Reeza Hendricks top-scored for South Africa with an 18-ball 44 but Romario Shepherd (3-15), Shamar Joseph (3-31) and Akeal Hosein (2-25) combined to bowl the visitors out for 149 to help West Indies clinch the series with a game in hand.

Athanaze was the one who provided West Indies a quick start after South Africa opted to bowl, with Hope scoring 13 at a run-a-ball in the powerplay. Athanaze struck two fours and as many sixes in his stay before miscuing a pull off Lizaad Williams to depart in the sixth over. Hope then got into the act with two sixes off Aiden Markram in the seventh over, and two more sixes came off Kwena Maphaka – one each for Hope and Nicholas Pooran. Hope got his fourth maximum in Patrick Kruger’s over before mistiming a loft to fall nine short of fifty. At the halfway stage, West Indies were 90/2.

South Africa tried to pull it back with the quick wickets of Roston Chase and Pooran, with Kruger and Williams striking in successive overs. But an expensive 15th over from Bjorn Fortuin, in which he conceded 18 – including two sixes and a four by Rutherford – helped West Indies regain the momentum. South Africa managed a couple of quiet overs in the death as Baartman and Maphaka conceded only 4 each in the 17th and 19th respectively. But there were also two productive overs for West Indies which helped them finish just short of the 180 mark.

Hendricks set the tone for the chase as he collected four boundaries in the first two overs, including three in an over off Matthew Forde. Ryan Rickelton struck a six off Hosein, followed by a big over for South Africa as Hendricks hit two sixes and two fours off Chase in a 23-run fourth over to help the team past 50. Rickelton’s second six came off Joseph but he fell in the same over. Hendricks then chopped a Shepherd delivery onto the stumps in the sixt over but South Africa had a good start, having managed 71 in the powerplay. Markram’s six and a four off Joseph kept the positivity going but he fell to Shepherd soon after. Nevertheless, South Africa were well placed at the end of the 10th over, having reached 104/3.

But an excellent comeback with the ball from West Indies in the second half of the innings saw South Africa experience a major slide. Gudakesh Motie and Shepherd bowled a couple of tight overs before Tristan Stubbs hit a six off the spinner to bring the equation down to 55 off 42 balls. But regular wickets after that meant South Africa weren’t able to come close to the target. Stubbs sliced a catch to long off to give Hosein his first wicket. Donovan Ferreira was stumped off Motie and Rassie van der Dussen fell to Hosein after a scratchy 17 off 24. Joseph and Shepherd cleaned up the lower order as South Africa lost seven wickets for just 20 runs to suffer a series loss.

Brief scores: West Indies 179/6 in 20 overs (Shai Hope 41, Rovman Powell 35; Lizaad Williams 3-36, Patrick Kruger 2-29) beat South Africa 149 in 19.4 overs (Reeza Hendricks 44, Tristan Stubbs 28; Romario Shepherd 3-15, Shamar Joseph 3-31) by 30 runs.