George Linde and Kagiso Rabada share five wickets to take South Africa across the line in the second T20I to level the series by 1-1 at St. George on Sunday.
George Linde and Kagiso Rabada star for South Africa to take the T20I series lead by 1-1 after a 16 runs victory over West Indies. The all-rounder, Fabian Allen tried to turn things towards their side with a 12 ball 34 but at that time it was too late as the hosts won by 16 runs.
While chasing the target of 167, the opening duo, Andre Fletcher and Evin Lewis gave WI the same start as they were expecting and it looked like they would finish the match in the same way as the previous match.
However, after 31 runs in the fourth over, Lewis tried to up the ante but ended up losing his wicket to Anrich Nortje. Rabada then forced Chris Gayle to give a leading edge to the covers.
Linde kept the pressure on West Indies after a couple of tight overs, that resulted in a wicket of Nicholas Pooran when he tried to go big. Andre Russel was his next victim when he tried to slog one to deep midwicket.
Tabraiz Shamsi also joined the party after sending the skipper, Kieron Pollard back to the pavilion.
After Rabada dismissed Fletcher in the 16th over, it looked as if the pacer had shut the doors for West Indies but Fabien Allen gave them a scare or two with a couple of sixes.
In the 18th over from Rabada, Allen hit some sixes. Nortje then restricted West Indies to only two runs in the penultimate over. It was up to Lungi Ngidi when WI needed 36 off the last 6 balls.
It brought the life back into the game when Allen smacked two sixes into the stands on the first two balls and there was a lot to do when he fell for a Yorker off Ngidi.
Earlier, Obed McCoy and Kevin Sinclair have shared five wickets to restrict SA to a limited total. However, the opening pair of SA, Quinton de Kock and Reeza Hendricks gave a breezy start.
South Africa reached 73 for no loss in the seventh over. To reduce the pace of batsmen, Sinclair dismissed de Kock with Pooran taking a fine catch.
Kieron Pollard too played his part in the dismissal after putting his beliefs in the review and getting it overturned. Sinclair struck again in the 11th over to get rid of Hendricks.
McCoy took over from there to destroy the South African middle and lower-order with his fine variations. Meanwhile, Temba Bavuma remained the highest scorer for SA to a 33 ball 46.
Brief scores: South Africa 166/7 in 20 overs (Temba Bavuma 46; Obed McCoy 3-25) beat the West Indies 150/9 in 20 overs (Andre Fletcher 35; Kagiso Rabada 3-37) by 16 runs.
“Guys came with an open mind and had to be brave. We have been good in the first six overs, but in the end, we weren’t able to capitalize. All in all, the score we put on was a par score. Shamsi and George were amazing; for a captain, it makes things a lot easier. We always go to our pace bowlers, and the conditions needed to mix it up,”
said the winning captain, Temba Bavuma.
“We know South Africa would come hard. It was just a matter of bowling good balls, and we were pretty happy with 166. It was a matter of playing smart cricket. We lost three wickets from the seventh to the 11th over. We are not going to hide away from the fact but will continue to play aggressive cricket because that is our strength. McCoy taking the responsibility of bowling the death overs matters, lot of positives for us,”
said the losing captain, Kieron Pollard.