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Maphaka's five trumps Andrew's 130 as SA beat West Indies

cricket19 January 2024 19:40| © MWP
By:Neil Manthorp
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Kwena Maphaka’s five-wicket haul trumped a magnificent century from Jewel Andrew as South Africa beat the West Indies by 31-runs in a pulsating opening game of the Under-19 World Cup at the JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom on Friday.

South Africa recovered from 145-6 to post a challenging total of 285-9 before the West Indies slumped to 73-5 after 10 overs and staged an even more remarkable recovery on the back of Andrew’s 130 from just 96 balls before Maphaka’s 5-38 ended their hopes of an extraordinary win and they were dismissed for 254.

A fine, counter-attacking seventh wicket stand of 131 between Dewan Marais and captain Juan James was instrumental in South African’s success on a slow, awkward batting pitch after they lost three wickets in five balls without scoring a run to slip from 145-3 to 145-6 and seemed unlikely to reach 200.

Left arm fast bowler, Maphaka, single-handedly reduced the West Indies to 17-3 after three overs of the run-chase with figures of 2-1-6-3 when he trapped Adrian Weir (0) and Joshua Dorne (9) lbw and had captain Stephan Pascal caught at cover with a searing bouncer which the batter could only fend away.

But 17-year-old Andrew, who was selected for the Leeward Islands having just turned 16 last year, showed his prolific talent by reaching his century from just 71 balls and continued to push for an unlikely victory.

Opening bowler Martin Khumalo pulled a hamstring after just 2.1 overs and was unable to bowl again and frontline offspinner, James, was unable to bowl at all leaving South Africa to ‘find’ 18 overs from part-timers. Wicketkeeper and opening batter, Lhuan-dre Pretorius even handed the gloves to reserve ‘keeper, Ntando Zuma, and bowled nine overs of tidy off-spin at a cost of just 45 runs.

Batters Oliver Whitehead (1-0-17-0) and David Teeger (2-0-18-1) were less successful with their bowling offerings and, with the West Indies requiring 36 runs from 66 balls with three wickets remaining and Andrew still at the crease, they might have been the difference between the teams.

But Riley Norton (3-66) had Andrew caught behind and Maphaka was recalled to finish the job, and he did it in style.

None of this seemed likely when seamer Riley Norton bowled Jordan Johnson (21) with a beauty and had Steve Wedderburn (12) caught and the West Indies were 73-5 after 10 overs with a mountain to climb.

Earlier Pretorius made light work of the conditions with 40 from just 34 balls (6x4, 1x6) before the impressive left-arm spinner, Nathan Sealy (10-2-34-3) bowled him between bat and pad.

Fellow Opener Steve Stolk (5) top-edged a pull to cover and Richard Seletswane (16) was run out by a direct hit from cover by the athletic Tarrique Edward.

Teeger adopted defence as his primary approach in stabilising the innings from 97-3 to 145-3 in the company of Whitehead. Teeger crawled to 44 form 98 balls before Sealy had him smartly stumped by ‘keeper Andrew and Whitehead’s 26 from 35 balls ended with a pull to deep midwicket.

Romashan Pillay edged his second ball from Sealy to slip and the West Indies appeared to be in control of the innings. But Marais was undaunted by the collapse and played with complete freedom smashing four fours and four sixes in a glorious, fightback innings of 65 from only 38 balls before being caught on the deep midwicket boundary in the final over.

James was initially happy to play a junior role as Marais starred but soon picked up the tempo to reach 47 from 54 balls with three fours and a pulled six before being run out, also in the final over.

SOUTH AFRICA: Lhuan-dre Pretorius(w), Steve Stolk, David Teeger, Richard Seletswane, Oliver Whitehead, Dewan Marais, Romashan Pillay, Juan James(c), Riley Norton, Kwena Maphaka, Martin Khumalo.

WEST INDIES: Stephan Pascal(c), Adrian Weir, Joshua Dorne, Jordan Johnson, Steve Wedderburn, Jewel Andrew(w), Nathan Sealy, Tarrique Edward, Isai Thorne, Nathan Edwards, Deshawn James

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