Romario Shepherd’s fireworks and Alzarri Joseph’s five-for seal the series

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After winning the T20I series, West Indies celebrate on top of the podium

The West Indies won the series after an exciting series thanks to Romario Shepherd’s unbeaten 44 off 22 balls and his ninth-wicket stand of 59 off 26 balls with Alzarri Joseph, who later claimed his first T20I five-for.

Since Australia’s 221 for 5 against England in 2007, Shepherd and Joseph’s West Indies team scored the third-highest total at the Wanderers without having an individual fifty. 

Even under adverse conditions, against a resolute South African lineup, and with a lot of dew sealing the ball, they were able to defend it.

Reeza Hendricks scored a career-high 83 and added 80 runs with Rilee Rossouw for the second wicket, but South Africa’s batting order seemed a little thin as the needed run rate increased.

After winning the trophy in 2015, which was eight years ago, the outcome means that West Indies has now won a second consecutive T20I series in South Africa. The only members of the current team who participated in that series are Sheldon Cottrell and Jason Holder.

Ngidi may have believed things could only get better after his last T20I appearance, which came in November’s World Cup loss to the Netherlands, but that wasn’t the case for him. 

He started out by bowling a nice delivery, but he made a mistake and gave the ball to the strong Brandon King down the leg side, who assisted the ball in crossing long leg. 

Ngidi changed the direction of his next delivery to outside off stump, but King blasted it onto the roof over deep mid-wicket, making Ngidi reconsider his options. With his fourth delivery, he attempted to pace off, but King saw it and sent it over mid-wicket for four. 

Ngidi overstepped for his subsequent ball out of frustration, forcing him to bowl it once more. Kyle Mayers successfully hit his final delivery, a low full-toss, over extra cover for four runs to complete a 22-run over.

After Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada received the ball and immediately made things right. He dismissed Mayers with a full, quick delivery that caught the stumps and rocked the West Indian opener off his feet before bringing Johnson Charles, the centurion from SuperSport Park, back to earth with a first-ball duck. 

South Africa surged back, but Charles didn’t move to block a ball that snuck back into him and inside-edged onto his stumps. In the ninth over, Anrich Nortje came back and watched Mayers stroll across his stumps. He then pitched the ball on the leg stump and got it out. 

When Rovman Powell opened his stance and missed a slog and became the fourth West Indian to be bowled, Aiden Markram joined in on the fun. At the midway point, West Indies were 108 for 4, but Ngidi salvaged himself by catching Nicholas Pooran from behind.

With little remaining batting, West Indies needed a good finish after losing 3 for 21 between the 13th and 16th over. The biggest ninth-wicket partnership at the Wanderers came from Shepherd and Joseph, who also helped West Indies reach 200 runs by scoring 52 runs in the final three overs. 

He sent Joseph over point for six, through the covers for another four, and then blasted the first ball he faced over extra cover for four. 

South Africa ended the Powerplay with almost the same score as West Indies—61—but one fewer wickets lost than West Indies thanks to Rossouw’s 19 runs off the first six balls he faced.

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