A moderate score and South Africa will back themselves to chase it down and confirm their place in the semi-finals. They’ve read the conditions beautifully until now, won the toss, asked West Indies to bat first and didn’t let them get off to a flier. Jansen struck in the 1st over to send back Hope, that brought in two left-handers and Markram brought himself on. That move paid immediate dividends as a rash Pooran slog found long-off. Mayers, brought in for Johnson Charles, and Roston Chase added 81 for the third wicket, both rode their luck, both were dropped early, but they did set up a platform for the big-hitters. South Africa relied on spin and they bowled 12 of them, most by them in a T20 World Cup match. Shamsi was the last spinner brought on and he squeezed the middle-order with three timely blows. 86 for 2 became 97 for 6 in no time as West Indies fell apart. Andre Russell then struck two massive sixes, but his dismissal, run-out at the start of the 18th over, could be the turning point of the game. Still, West Indies have runs on the board, not a lot, but they can fight with this score. They’ve three spinners as well and it’s set for a good chase. Remember, South Africa haven’t been great with chases in a must-win WC game? 2007? 2022? Or will they re-write history?
Most consecutive innings with at least one wicket in T20 WCs 16 – Anrich Nortje (2021-2024) – streak ended today 16 – Adam Zampa (2021-2024*) 15 – Graeme Swann (2009-2012) 11 – Ish Sodhi (2016-2021)
Tabraiz Shamsi: Really nice to be out on the park when there’s a full crowd in. Really nice to be able to contribute today. He was fantastic (Markram’s captaincy). That’s the beauty of our bowling attack. There’s no set pattern. The way he marshalled the guys was brilliant. It’s a pretty decent surface to be honest. There’s a little bit of turn but nothing excessive. The ball is coming onto the bat nicely and I suppose in the second innings hopefully there’s a bit of dew. I haven’t heard anything yet but hopefully we don’t need him (Jansen fit to bat?). Pleased with the total but it’s cricket, so we got to make the runs.
Phew! What is it with South Africa and knockout games in the World Cup? They are never short of drama and action. The openers departed in the second over. Then the rain arrived and halted proceedings for more than an hour; reducing the game to 17 overs and the target to 123, but it changed the conditions drastically. There was not much help for the spinners and the ball was coming on nicely. Markram threw it away and Klaasen was bounced out after a quick cameo, both to Alzarri Joseph. South Africa were still in control at that stage but the introduction of Chase turned the game as he picked up 3 wickets in 3 overs to bring West Indies right back into it. But Jansen kept his cool and ensured South Africa remain unbeaten in the tournament.
abraiz Shamsi | Player of the Match – I am sweating, I wasn’t even there (in the middle), but I was nervous, but that’s been the trait of the team in this tournament, always fighting till the end. We looked at Marco Jansen’s reaction, he seemed confident that it had crossed the ropes. Our supporters and staff would probably like bigger wins, but we need to take these performances going ahead. We’ve had a lot of chatter, I was backed by the coaching staff to work on my plans. The guys set things really well, we’re firing on all cylinders and looking forward to the next match. We’ve played well as a team, a complete team performance, there’s no pressure on anyone, we’re working well as a team. It’s a love affair between South Africa and the World Cups (on rain stopping play), but the boys were calm, we knew what we needed to do and there were no such crazy thoughts going around (on the chance of being eliminated).
Most matches won in a T20 WC edition 7 – South Africa in 2024* 6 – Sri Lanka in 2009 6 – Australia in 2010 6 – Australia in 2021
Most wickets for West Indies in a T20 WC edition 13 – Alzarri Joseph (2024) 11 – Samuel Badree (2014) 11 – Andre Russell (2024) 10 – Dwayne Bravo (2009)
South Africa’s longest winning streaks in T20Is 7* – in 2024 7 – in 2009 7 – in 2021
50+ score and 3+ wickets in a T20 WC match 66* & 4/38 – Dwayne Bravo vs IND, Lord’s, 2009 51 & 3/26 – Shane Watson vs IRE, Colombo RPS, 2012 72 & 3/34 – Shane Watson vs IND, Colombo RPS, 2012 67* & 3/19 – Marcus Stoinis vs OMAN, Barbados, 2024 52 & 3/12 – Roston Chase vs SA, North Sound, 2024*
– South Africa have qualified for the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup for the first time since 2014.
– The host nation never won the T20 World Cup in 9 editions.
Rovman Powell | West Indies captain: Credit to the boys for fighting till the end. As a batting group this is a performance we want to forget, we didn’t bat well in the middle overs. We lost wickets in clusters and that always breaks the back of the batting team. It was a commendable effort, the boys believed they could defend 135. We haven’t won the World Cup or reached the semifinal but we have played some good cricket in the last 12 months. There is a buzz among the supporters about West Indies cricket again and that is something we take away. We really appreciate the support we have got at various venues and the likes on social media.
Aiden Markram | South Africa captain: Lot of relief to get through to the semifinal. We would have liked to be a lot more convincing. The wicket was playing nicely after the rain break but we tried to kill the game too early. It put us in a tricky position but happy to get over the line. We bowled really well, assessed conditions and kept them to a sub-par total. We could have built a partnership after the break and then take it from there, we will take that learning and hopefully not do that same mistake again. We picked Shamsi to have a mystery spinner against them and immediately saw it spinning, so we wanted to bowl as much spin as we can. If it wouldn’t spun that much then we would have used our pacers, not a lot of times when KG bowls only 2 overs. We have been doing really well, the bowling unit is firing and as a batting unit it is about when to take the game on. We need to be smart on those situations. I haven’t been following but whoever it might be we have to put our best foot forward.
West Indies fought hard. The batters could not put up enough runs on the board and the conditions too changed but the bowlers took it till the final over. And as Powell mentioned there are a lot of positives to take away from this tournament especially the support they got right through. South Africa have had quite a few close encounters in this World Cup and it is unlike them to come out on the right side every single time. Is it a sign that this could be their year? Well we will find out over the next few days. It is time to wrap things up.