West Indies 176 for 3 (Pooran 65*, Hope 51, Athanaze 40, Baartman 2-30) beat South Africa 174 for 3 (Stubbs 76, Kruger 44, Forde 3-27, Shamar 2-40) by seven wickets
West Indies’ early triple-strike
Powell’s decision to bowl first paid off almost immediately when, after an impressive three-run opening over from Akeal Hosein, Forde made the first incision: Ryan Rickelton reached to cut a short, wide ball and toe-ended to Pooran. Aiden Markram countered with a strong reverse sweep and pull of Hosein but then hit Forde straight to Gudakesh Motie at mid-on. Two balls later, Reeza Hendricks got a leading edge to Shamar Joseph’s first delivery which swirled to Hosein at deep third and continued a miserable run for the South African opener. Hendricks has gone past 20 in only two of his last 11 T20I innings. South Africa struggled through their powerplay and ended on 33 for 3. Rassie van der Dussen was strangled down leg as soon as the fielding restrictions were lifted and Joseph had his second.
South Africa were in trouble on 42 for 5 after eight overs with all their recognised batters, bar Stubbs, back in the dugout. Stubbs initially played out of character and had just 13 runs off his first 16 balls. His first sign of intent came when he sent Motie over long-on for the biggest six of the innings, but it was only after Kruger’s innings ended, that Stubbs took control.
He took successive fours off full deliveries from Forde, either side of the wicket, and then reached fifty off 33 balls when he hit Joseph over cover point. He scored 23 runs off the last six balls he faced, and was going for six more, when he holed out to long-on on the penultimate ball of the innings. But 174 on the board, he had given his bowlers something to defend.
Hope and Athanaze give West Indies dream start
It took ten deliveries before West Indies scored their first boundary, but when they did, the floodgates opened. Athanaze, opening the batting in his second T20I, swept Fortuin over long leg, then Hope deposited Ottneil Baartman over long-off and through deep-backward square leg but the real damage was done in the fifth over. Athanaze plundered 20 runs off Nandre Burger, including two sixes over deep square leg, and a gorgeous late cut that went for four and forced South Africa to turn to a fifth bowler within the powerplay. Markram bowled himself but was even more expensive as his opening over went for 21. Hope scored 16 of those runs off three balls; two of them a down-on-one-knee six over long-on and long-off to help West Indies complete an impressive 75-run powerplay.
Pooran’s four successive sixes all but finishes off
With 70 runs off 54 balls required for the win, Pooran saw an opportunity to end things quickly when Burger was brought back in the 12th over. After Hope got off strike, Burger tried a slower ball to Pooran, who had more than enough time to hit him straight over long-off for a 77-metre six. Burger’s next ball was also pace-off and ended up being a full toss and Pooran helped it over midwicket and into the stands. The next two balls were faster and still full and Pooran had his eye in. He hit Burger down the ground for two more sixes to take the equation down to 45 off 48 balls. West Indies lost a couple of wickets but reached the target comfortably in the end.