Romario Shepherd and Shamar Joseph were the chief architects as West Indies overcame South Africa with ease for yet another series win. 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 Hossein (2-25) combined to bowl the visitors out for 149 to help West Indies clinch the series with a game in hand.
Akeal Hossein and Gudakesh Motie made the crucial breakthroughs when they removed Tristan Stubbs and Donovan Ferreira, respectively, but then it was over to Romario Shepherd and Shamar Joseph to finish it off. Romario Shepherd ended with 3 for 15 from his four overs and Joseph with a career-best 3 for 31. Between them, they took South Africa’s chances of levelling the series from on track to derailed.
Pitch and Toss
Hot sunny conditions here. We are playing on the same surface that we played the first T20I on. There is an evenness on the surface, ball will come onto the bat nicely,” reckon Samuel Badree and Nikhil Uttamchandani.
South Africa skipper Aiden Markram won the toss and chose to bowl with one change as Lizaad Williams comes in for Nandre Burger. West Indies skipper Rovman Powell batting first made no changes in the playing XI.
Shai Hope floats and flies in the Powerplay before Patrick Kruger strikes for SA
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. Alick Athanaze struck two fours and as many sixes in his stay before miscuing a pull off Lizaad Williams to depart in the sixth over.
Shai 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 Shai Hope and Nicholas Pooran. Shai 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.
After a match-winning 51 in the opening game, Shai Hope announced his intent in this match when he slog-swept Bjorn Fortuin over midwicket to score his first boundary of the innings. Shai Hope’s pull off Kwena Maphaka in the next over, which went between the wicketkeeper and short fine, opened up a scoring area in the V behind the stumps. Alick Athanaze also exploited that area when he played Lizaad Williams late through third. West Indies finished the powerplay on 43 for 1, before Shai Hope’s best came out.
He smashed Aiden Markram for back-to-back sixes over midwicket, with the turn and wind. Two more sixes came when he pulled Maphaka over cow corner and flicked Patrick Kruger over a wide fine leg to underline his preference for leg-side play. Shai Hope scored 39 of his 41 runs on the leg side, and had a third fifty in four innings in his sights, before he reached for a wide Kruger delivery and was caught at deep point.
Patrick Kruger double strike restrict WI to 179 in 20 overs
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.
Hope was Kruger’s first T20I wicket and it was not long before he had his second. After a change of ends, but with the same plan, Kruger struck with the first ball in the 12th over. He maintained a wide line outside off and Roston Chase was enticed into attempting a big shot. He only got enough to find Maphaka on the edge of the point boundary, who took a good low catch to leave West Indies 94 for 3.
Patrick Kruger is not South Africa’s first-choice allrounder, even in this squad, but has done enough to keep Wiaan Mulder on the bench and perhaps even edge out Ferreira. But West Indies scored 50 runs in their last five overs, with Rovman Powell and Sherfane Rutherford adding 47 off 28 balls for the fifth wicket to give them the edge.
Reeza Hendricks hits back form as South Africa dominated the first half
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 Hossein, 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. Rickleton’s second six came off Joseph but he fell in the same over.
Hendricks then chopped a Romario Shepherd delivery onto the stumps in the sixth 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.
The last ball of Hossein’s opening over was not particularly short, but Reeza Hendricks pulled it for four over midwicket for the first boundary of South Africa’s reply. And it was as though a switch had flipped. Hendricks went on to hit a wide ball from Matthew Forde over point, a full delivery through the covers and then seemed to do nothing more than attempt a back-foot defensive block but timed it well enough to get past mid-off for four more.
His coup de grâce came against Chase, whom he hit for 22 runs in five balls, including back-to-back sixes either side of the wicket, to give South Africa fifty inside four overs, and 71 in the powerplay albeit that he fell on the penultimate ball. Hendricks under-edged Romario Shepherd onto his stumps and was out for 44 but showed signs that he was back to his best. In 12 innings before this one, Hendricks had only gone past 40 once and though he would have been disappointed not to get a half-century, he set up the chase well.
Romario Shepherd and Shamar Joseph’s 3-fer sets up series win for West Indies
Hossein’s first two overs – at the start of the innings – cost 17 runs and he was brought back in the 14th. South Africa were 125 for 3 after 13 with Tristan Stubbs and Rassie van der Dussen both in and scoring quickly. Hossein made a crucial breakthrough, foxing Stubbs. Stubbs tried to loft a slow, flighted ball over long-off but did not get enough on it and was caught by substitute fielder Fabian Allen. Pace-off also did Ferreira in, as Motie had him stumped in the next over, but it was Hossein’s final delivery that put South Africa’s hopes to bed.
Van der Dussen tried to hit him over midwicket but only made contact with the inside half of the bat and was caught by Joseph. South Africa were 138 for 6 after 16 overs and needed 42 runs off 24 balls. Joseph and Romario Shepherd took it out of South Africa’s reach and cleaned up the tail before Matthew Forde finished off the match.
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 Hossein his first wicket. Donovan Ferreira was stumped off Motie and Rassie van der Dussen fell to Hossein after a scratchy 17 off 24. Joseph and Romario Shepherd cleaned up the lower order as South Africa lost seven wickets for just 20 runs to suffer a series loss.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Rovman Powell the winning skipper said : When you give guys opportunity and back them, they can do well. Brandon King is our No.1 opener, but Alick has grabbed his opportunity. It’s always nice to beat such a team, they are a quality team. (Crowd) It has become the regular here in Trinidad, we are always grateful for the people of Trinidad.
Aiden Markram the losing skipper said : In the middle overs (where we lost). They bowled really well in the back end of the middle overs. They made scoring tough. Learning for us a squad. (On Williams) 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. We’ll identify areas where we can get better at. Looking forward to the next game, hopefully we can put up a better show.
Romario Shepherd Player of the Match for his 3 wickets said : 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. Need to forget about past performances, and today I just had to stick to my lengths and use my variations to execute better.
Superb bowling performance from West Indies in front of a vociferous crowd. Inserted to bat, WI got off to a decent start but lost their way a bit before Powell and Rutherford heavy-lifted them to 179. In reply, the Proteas got to a flier with Reeza Hendricks hitting a flurry of boundaries. South Africa raced away to 67/1 in five overs. Romario Shepherd removed the dangerman in the final over of the powerplay and South Africa lost all the momentum post that.
Markram too fell to Romario Shepherd and even though Stubbs and Rassie managed to stitch a 43-run partnership, the hosts kept a tight lid on the scoring rate. The two left-arm spinners picked three wickets in three overs and South Africa’s innings got completely derailed as they collapsed from 129/3 to 149/10. Romario Shepherd finished with incredible figures of 3/15, Shamar Joseph returned with his career best T20 figures and Forde applied the finishing touches.
Akeal Hossein and Gudakesh Motie made the crucial breakthroughs when they removed Tristan Stubbs and Donovan Ferreira, respectively, but then it was over to Romario Shepherd and Shamar Joseph to finish it off. Romario Shepherd ended with 3 for 15 from his four overs and Joseph with a career-best 3 for 31. Between them, they took South Africa’s chances of levelling the series from on track to derailed.
West Indies would have known that the total they posted was gettable after they pulled off the highest successful chase at the venue – 175 – two days ago and South Africa were off to a quick start. They raced to 100 inside ten overs but West Indies conceded only one boundary between tenth and 14th overs to force South Africa into making mistakes that ultimately cost them the game.
South Africa’s middle order will be a cause for concern as only one batter after No. 3 got past 20 in a match where individual run-scoring accolades were scarce. There were no half-centuries across the two teams but West Indies were clearly the better big-hitting side. They hit 13 sixes compared to South Africa’s six, which was one marker of where the game was won.
Third successive T20I series win for West Indies against South Africa. And, they seal this with a game remaining. They hunted down SA’s 174 quite convincingly in the first T20I and came back strongly with the ball after Hendricks’s blitz to defend 179. A complete all-round performance from the hosts and they’ll be tempted to test their bench strength. Will South Africa avoid a whitewash would a a game to watch in the 3rd T20I on Tuesday.