ST GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – West Indies suffered at the hands of Man-of-the-Match Aiden Markram and red-hot opener Quinton de Kock and then watched as their own batting misfired again, to crash to a 25-run defeat and their sixth Twenty20 International series loss in their last nine outings here yesterday.
Entering the decisive contest at the Grenada National Stadium with the series in the balance at 2-2, West Indies failed to chase down 168, with only opener Evin Lewis putting up a resistance with 52 from 34 deliveries and Shimron Hetmyer chipping in with 33.
Lungi Ngidi led the attack with three for 32 while fellow seamers Kagiso Rabada (2-24) and Wiaan Mulder (2-31) both claimed two wickets apiece to rattle West Indies, who slumped from 75 for two in the 10th over to lose seven wickets for 68 runs in the space of 59 deliveries.
Not for the first time, the home side found themselves plagued by a lack of rotation of strike and conceded 50 dot balls, left-arm spinner Tabraiz Shamsi drying up in the scoring in a four-over spell that cost only 11 runs and earned him Man-of-the-Series honours.
“We had three opportunities to try to chase down 160-odd [during the series] and we couldn’t get over the line,” said captain Kieron Pollard after his side’s 17th defeat in their last 28 T20 Internationals.
“The most disappointing thing is that we keep making the same mistakes over and over and over and that’s the definition of insanity.”
For South Africa, the series win was their first in their last seven series, leaving captain Temba Bavuma “delighted” with the result.
“I think it’s been an incredible effort from the boys,” said Bavuma of his first series success as skipper.
“We were put under pressure from the first game and we have to commend ourselves and our ability to bounce back. As a team we haven’t won many series away from home and we saw this as a test.”
The foundation of the result was laid by Markram who top-scored with 70 off 48 deliveries, combining in a 128-run, second wicket stand with de Kock who punched 60 off 42 balls.
Bavuma perished to the third ball of the innings without a run on the board after the Proteas opted to bat first, but Markram lashed three fours and four sixes and the left-handed de Kock, four fours and a brace of sixes, to pull the innings around.
De Kock fell in the 15th over when he lofted fast bowler Fidel Edwards (2-19) to long on while Markram followed in the next over from left-arm seamer Obed McCoy, holing out to backward square.
In their reply, West Indies suffered an early setback when Lendl Simmons missed a slog at deceptive left-arm spinner George Linde and was lbw for three, after being struck on the back leg.
Lewis kept the runs flowing, however, belting five fours and three sixes to dominate a 45-run, second wicket stand with veteran Chris Gayle who once again struggled, managing only 11 from nine deliveries, before edging a swing at Shamsi and falling to a catch at the wicket in the eighth over.
West Indies then scraped ten runs from the next 15 deliveries, resulting in the frustrated Lewis’s failed attempt to clear long off with Ngidi in the 10th over at 75 for three.
Hetmyer, who hit one four and a brace of sixes in a 31-ball knock, came together with Pollard (13) to add 35 for the fourth wicket but the stand required 30 deliveries and by the time Pollard drilled Mulder to long off in the 15th over, West Indies needed a further 59 runs from 33 balls.
All-rounder Andre Russell (0) fell to the very next delivery, squirting a wide full toss to point to leave Mulder on a hat-trick, and once Hetmyer perished in the 18th, holing out to long on off Ngidi, West Indies were facing the inevitable.
