ANTIGUA: In a Super Eights encounter impacted by rain on Sunday, South Africa defeated the West Indies by three wickets to advance to the T20 World Cup semi-finals and eliminate the hosts.
South Africa faltered to 110-7 when Roston Chase claimed three wickets in their chase of a revised 123 off 17 overs, but they managed to reach their mark when Marco Jansen struck the opening ball of the last over for six.
At the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua, South Africa won the toss and held the West Indies to 135-8 thanks to a performance by player of the match Tabraiz Shamsi, who finished with 3-27.
All-rounder Chase top scored with 52, featuring in an 81-run third-wicket partnership with Kyle Mayers (35 off 34 balls) before giving the West Indies hope by taking 3-12 with his off-spin.
Jansen’s unbeaten 21 saw the Proteas to victory at 124-7 when he smashed the final six off Obed McCoy.
“The last time I played here I went for 50 runs and there was a lot of chatter going around,” said Shamsi.
“I was happy to come back and perform my role, but credit as well to the guys who bowled before me because they set it up beautifully.”
Brought in for seamer Ottneil Baartman, the left-arm wrist-spinner got excellent support from fellow slow bowlers Keshav Maharaj (1-24) and captain Aiden Markram (1-28).
Chase was dropped on 11 by Anrich Nortje and made the most of his luck, clearing the ropes twice and hitting three fours.
His partnership with Mayers helped rescue the hosts after they fell to 5-2 in the second over.
Once Shamsi removed Mayers to a sliced catch at deep cover, a steady stream of wickets enabled South Africa to restrict the West Indies.
With the score on 117-6, Nortje made amends for his earlier error with a direct hit to run out the dangerous Andre Russell who had hit two sixes in his 15 off nine balls.
“This is one batting performance we will try our best to forget,” said West Indies captain Rovman Powell.
“It was a commendable bowling effort by us. We said at the halfway mark that we were going to give it our all and the guys gave everything to defend that total.”
Winning captain Markram admitted to nerves during the tense chase.
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