Shai Hope was outstanding with the bat, while Romario Shepherd was excellent with the ball for the West Indies as they defeated South Africa by 30 runs in their T20I contest at the Brian Lara Academy in Torouba, Trinidad, on Sunday.
The hosts, who were asked to bat first, put up a total of 179 for six in their innings.
Their bowling attack, led by Shepherd, bowled out South Africa for 149 in 19.4 overs.
Shepherd was named the Player of the Match for his three wickets for 15 runs in four overs.
An emphatic series win for the #MenInMaroon taking it with precision bowling in the clutch 👏🏾🏏💥#WIvSA #T20Fest pic.twitter.com/VeOmZgd92x
— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) August 25, 2024
The West Indies lead South Africa 2-0 in the three-match series.
The hosts have now defeated the visitors three times in a row in a bilateral series.
HOPE LAYS THE PLATFORM
Shai Hope set his side on course to victory by laying a great platform with an outstanding knock that yielded 41 runs from 22 balls.
The opener creamed two fours and four sixes during his stay in the middle.
Shai Hope brought the heat at the top of the innings.🔥#WIvSA #T20Fest pic.twitter.com/dLzmiFpNtU
— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) August 25, 2024
Early in his innings, the 30-year-old was happy to play second fiddle to Alick Athanaze (28 off 21) in the powerplay scoring 13 runs from 13 balls, and took control of the innings immediately after Athanaze's dismissal. He scored 28 runs off the next nine deliveries he faced.
The West Indies' star from the first match, Nicholas Pooran, found the going hard and did not access his boundary-hitting mode and only managed a run-a-ball 19 runs.
However, the hosts found their way back through the 47-run fifth-wicket partnership between Rovman Powell and Sherfane Rutherford.
Powell scored a brisk 35 off 22 and Sherfane Rutherford managed a well-played 29 off 17 to bring their side closer to a defendable total.
There was little the South African bowling attack could do to stop the march of the West Indies contingent.
However, in this atmosphere, Lizaad Williams was able to bag three wickets for 36 runs in his four overs.
Patrick Kruger collected his first two T20I wickets in his three overs at the cost of 29 runs.
The West Indies bowling attack came to the party to defend what many would have considered a par score.
More impressively, they did so after losing the powerplay to the visitors.
PROTEAS FOLD AFTER ROLLICKING START
Reeza Hendricks (44 off 18) was timing and placing the ball well to give his side a rollicking start.
The opener showed his range as he smashed six fours and two sixes in the powerplay.
Hendricks was looking good for a 16th T20I half-century but fell short by six runs.
Hendricks's wicket came seven balls after the dismissal of Ryan Rickelton.
The left-hander had a good start, scoring 20 off 13, but was unable to convert that to a substantial score.
South Africa were well ahead of the game with a score of 71 for 2 after the powerplay.
The visitors' momentum was severely curtailed though and they lost their third wicket nine deliveries after Hendricks's dismissal.
Similar to Rickelton, Aiden Markram (19 from 9) had a start but failed to convert.
West Indies' spin duo of Akeal Hosein and Gudakesh Motie squeezed the South African batters, drying out runs in the middle overs.
They saw to it that the visitors' rebuilding effort was through singles, twos and sometimes threes.
They bowled against Stubbs and expertly denied him boundaries. Stubbs hit only two boundaries, one four and one six, during his stay in the middle.
Hosein and Motie dismissed Stubbs, Van der Dussen and Donovan Ferreira in a space of 2.1 overs.
The contest spiralled downhill for South Africa from that point onwards.
Shamar Joseph, who bagged the first wicket of the match for the West Indies, took two more to register his career-best T20I bowling figures.
He finished with three wickets for 31 runs in four overs.
Best bowling figures in T20I for Shamar Joseph! 💪🏾🔥#WIvSA | #T20Fest pic.twitter.com/BVdpb2Skkz
— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) August 25, 2024
However, the star of the show was Shepherd.
The seamer accounted for South Africa's premier batters, Reeza Hendricks and Aiden Markram, and the explosive Patrick Kruger.
None of the South Africans could get him off the square.
Brilliant with the ball today Sheppy! 👏🏾👏🏾#WIvSA | #T20Fest pic.twitter.com/7TN0uhbRcg
— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) August 25, 2024
Akeal Hosein was also outstanding with two wickets for 25 runs in four overs.
WEST INDIES: Shai Hope, 2 Alick Athanaze, 3 Nicholas Pooran, 4 Roston Chase, 5 Sherfane Rutherford, 6 Rovman Powell (capt), 7 Romario Shepherd, 8 Matthew Forde, 9 Akeal Hosein, 10 Gudakesh Motie, 11 Shamar Joseph
SOUTH AFRICA: Reeza Hendricks, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Aiden Markram (capt), Tristan Stubbs, Rassie van der Dussen, Donovan Ferreira, Patrick Kruger, Bjorn Fortuin, Ottneil Baartman, Lizaad Williams, Kwena Maphaka