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Big-hitting Powell denies Proteas

cricket25 March 2023 16:41| © MWP
By:Patrick Compton
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New West Indies skipper Rovman Powell struck a brilliant unbeaten 43 in 18 balls to take his team to victory by three wickets over South Africa with three balls to spare in the first KFC T20I at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Saturday.

In a match reduced to 11 overs a side because of rain, the West Indies won the toss and put South Africa in to bat. Facing a target of 132 for victory, the tourists were always ahead of the run-rate but Sisanda Magala and Anrich Nortje bowled superb overs to make it a tense finish.

Powell smoked the eighth over, delivered by Bjorn Fortuin, for 25 runs, including four sixes and a four, to make the West Indies favourites, but then Magala grabbed two wickets in two balls in the 10th over to restore some of the balance. He nearly became the second South African bowler after Kagiso Rabada to take a T20I hat-trick, but a negative review of a possible catch off Roston Chase denied him that prize.

Needing eight to win off Wayne Parnell’s final over, Powell hooked the third ball for six and then took a comfortable single to clinch the game. In all the player of the match struck five sixes and a four in his innings.

The West Indies were given a lightning start by Johnson Charles (28 off 14 and Brandon King (23 off eight) as the 50 came up at the start of the fourth over. But Charles was superbly caught by Nortje on the long-off boundary, knocking the ball he had caught into the field of play to complete the catch.

For South Africa, Magala completed a fine all-round performance by taking 3/21 off two overs while Nortje was outstanding, taking 1/17 in three overs of high pace.

Earlier, David Miller slammed 48 off 22 balls and added 47 in just 13 balls with Magala for the seventh wicket, to take South Africa to a respectable 131 for eight in their innings.

South Africa’s innings got off to the worst possible start with Quinton de Kock holing out to left-arm spinner Akeal Hosain’s first ball.

Reeza Hendricks, Rilee Rossouw and Aiden Markram all got starts but it was the partnership between Miller and Magala that gave the Proteas a late turbo boost after they had fallen to 79 for six wickets in the ninth over.

With most batsmen opting for agricultural strokes, given the shortness of the innings, it was Miller who played a series of “proper” cricket shots, driving off the front and back foot as well as hooking, pulling and clipping off his legs as he struck four fours and three sixes. Magala, using his immense power, smashed two sixes and a four in his five-ball innings that realised 18 runs.

For the West Indies, Sheldon Cottrell (2/31 off three overs) and Odean Smith (2/27 off two overs) grabbed a brace of wickets apiece.

The remaining two matches in the series take place in Centurion tomorrow and at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

SOUTH AFRICA: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Rilee Rossouw, Aiden Markram (capt), Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Sisanda Magala, Bjorn Fortuin, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi

WEST INDIES: Kyle Mayers, Brandon King, Johnson Charles, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Rovman Powell (capt), Roston Chase, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, Sheldon Cottrell, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph

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