#WT20 Anxious wait for Proteas
Anything other than a Sri Lankan victory over England will see the Proteas eliminated from the #WT20 tounament.
|||South Africa 122/8 (De Kock 47, Wiese 28; Gayle 2/17)
West Indies 123/7 (Samuels 44, Charles 32; Tahir 2/13)
West Indies won by three wickets
Nagpur - The ghosts of Nagpur came back to haunt the Proteas here at the ICC World Twenty20 on Friday night.
It was only a few months ago that South Africa surrendered their nine-year unbeaten away Test streak in this countryside Indian town.
Now they have left their World T20 hopes in the red dust of the VCA Stadium. Anything other than a Sri Lankan victory over England on Saturday will see the Proteas eliminated from the biennial jamboree.
The much-maligned South African attack delivered a courageous effort with the ball, but ultimately their batsmen had left them just too few to defend. In fact, the Proteas had battled all the way right down until the very last over when Kagiso Rabada began the final over of the match with the Windies requiring just nine runs for victory.
The youngster had already showed earlier in the Windies innings that he was ready to be the spearhead of the Proteas attack after again being selected ahead of the experienced Dale Steyn. Rabada had provided South Africa with hope when he clean bowled the dangerous Chris Gayle with the third ball of the West Indies innings.
It silenced 40000 people who had come to watch “The King of Cool”.
However, it was now Rabada’s turn to show his mental strength – as he has done in India previously when he held his nerve against none other than India captain MS Dhoni – but last night it was not to be for the 20-year-old speedster.
He started well enough with a dot ball, but was smeared over mid-wicket for six by Carlos Braithwaite in the next delivery.
That simplified the equation for the Windies as they calmly crossed the finish line even though there was one more twist when Hashim Amla could only get his finger tips to Denesh Ramdin’s cut down to the third man that sealed not only the victory butalso the Windies’ qualification for the semi-finals.
The Caribbeans would have breathed a sigh of relief in being able to close out the match as they had made heavy weather of their run chase.
Where is the vigil being held for the Proteas?
— Gosiame Legoale (@Ghost1609) March 26, 2016
Having lost Gayle, there was nobody who took the attack to the South Africans as the inclusion of leftarm spinner Aaron Phangiso saw the Proteas spinners keep a tight leash on the Windies run-rate. Only Marlon Samuels seemed to adapt to the slowness of the Nagpur wicket as he masterminded the Windies’ run-chase. South Africa, though, refused to lie down meekly with all-rounder David Wiese showing the value of his cutters, while the return of Imran Tahir set up the fascinating finale.
Tahir claimed two wickets in two balls – Russell and Darren Sammy – that gave South Africa hope which grew when Samuels holed out in the penultimate over delivered by Chris Morris. But it was always going to be a stretch too far after being sent in to bat. South Africa’s innings started in the worst possible fashion with Amla and Quinton de Kock involved in a mix-up.
Both batsmen hesitated
Supporting the Proteas like: I hope Sri Lanka wins.
— Mbuso (@Mbuso_Gustavo) March 26, 2016
after De Kock clubbed the ball to cover and Amla could not recover quickly enough and the West Indies had the early breakthrough. The Proteas struggled to build any momentum after that with captain Faf du Plessis and Rilee Rossouw dismissed within the powerplay overs. Du Plessis was unfortunate, especially since he had struck Andre Russell for a glorious six over longoff just two balls earlier. The skipper scooped a drive to Sulieman
Benn at mid-off where the lanky left-arm spinner claimed the catch. Television replays gave the impression the ball may have fallen short of the diving Benn, but third umpire Bruce Oxenford ruled that the catch was fair.
Rossouw, though, had no excuse.At 20/3 at the end of the third over South Africa needed a special innings from master batsman AB de Villiers to get them out of this hole. But Dwayne Bravo flummoxed De Villiers with a well-disguised slower ball. Du Plessis and his men now face an anxious wait.
Saturday Star