SA back to the drawing board ahead of third T20I against the West Indies

South Africa have some introspection to do after they find themselves trailing the West Indies 0 - 2 in their three-match T20 series following their 30-run loss to the hosts in the second match.

Moments before the contest, Patrick Kruger, who played an excellent knock in the first match spoke positively about the team’s intent and mindset when he stood before the press. “We are backing ourselves, we still have one game to win before another to win the series,” he shared.

That positivity was visible in the way the bowlers went about their business. The Proteas’ bowling attack produced a better performance on the pitch where they conceded 71 runs in the powerplay in the first encounter. This time around, they restricted the hosts to 43/1, denying them complete control of the innings.

Lizaad Williams starred with the ball for South Africa, dismissing Alick Athanaze, Nicholas Pooran and Rovman Powell at crucial moments. His effort helped the visitors to restrict the hosts to a par total.

“I was trying to break their momentum of swing. There was a bit of a grip as it was a used wicket. I've just played a handful of games, grateful for the opportunity, I am trying to make the best of it,” Williams shared.

“I have known him for quite a while, proper fighter, puts in a lot of work behind the scenes, glad he could grab his opportunity today,” Markram said when asked about Williams’ performance after the match.

As Kruger mentioned before the match, the South African contingent walked out backing themselves to chase down the target. Reeza Hendricks’ rediscovery of form made it seem as if they were going to make short work of the score. The opener smashed 44 runs off 18 deliveries to set his side up for victory.

Wickets were the only way back for the West Indies, given the kind of start South Africa had had. Romario Shepherd delivered two big ones, he accounted for Reeza Hendricks and Aiden Markram.

“Somewhere in the middle overs, the balance shifted. We did well in the powerplay, which is really nice to see compared to the other evening,” Markram explained.

The visitors were ahead of the match during the first half of the match, racing to 100 inside 10 overs. However, West Indies pulled things back and conceded only one boundary between the 10th and 14th overs.

By drying the runs, West Indies’ spin duo of Akeal Hosein and Gudakesh Motie dismantled a well-set-up chase. They made crucial breakthroughs, removing South Africa’s big-hitting pair of Tristan Stubbs and Donovan Ferreira.

“They bowled really well in the back end of the middle overs. They made scoring tough,” Aiden Markram said.

Hosein and Motie’s brilliance was built on the back of outstanding work by Romario Shepherd. The seamer finished the match with three wickets for 15 runs in 10 overs. Shepherd came into the match on the back of a disastrous outing in the first match, where he conceded 39 runs in three overs for a solitary wicket.

“Very pleased after the first game which didn't go well. I went with the same plans, but the execution was better. I tried to stay calm and went about ball by ball. My role is to come and try and hit the deck as much as possible with the change-ups and all that. That is what my captain expects of me,” Shepherd explained.

The Proteas lost their last seven wickets for 20 runs in 5.5 overs as they capitulated from a winning position to give the West Indies an unbeatable lead in the series. Despite having lost the series, Markram made it clear that his side will not treat the third and final match of the series as a dead rubber.

“One thing guaranteed with us is a never-say-die attitude. We'll identify areas where we can get better at. Looking forward to the next game, hopefully, we can put up a better show," he shared, looking ahead to the final match on Tuesday.

One of the places Rob Walter and his staff might look at will be that in the first two matches, a clear pattern has emerged, the West Indies are clearly the better big-hitting side. In the first T20I, they hit 13 sixes to South Africa’s six. The second T20I had an identical distribution of sixes across teams. This may be a marker of where the game was won.

The other one would be the Proteas’ batting at the death. The West Indies scored 50 runs in their last five overs, while South Africa managed 11.