The West Indies’ ambitious bid for a third Twenty20 World Cup title ended in heartbreak on Sunday night when they were eliminated from their home tournament following a tense three-wicket defeat to South Africa in their final Super Eight match.
Playing on a two-paced pitch at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, West Indies were restricted to 135 for eight from their 20 overs. All-rounder Roston Chase was the only batsman to show significant enterprise, top-scoring with 52 off 42 deliveries.
Left-hander Kyle Mayers, making his first appearance of the tournament after being called up as an injury replacement for Brandon King, struck 35 from 34 balls but struggled for fluency, and no other batsman managed to pass 15.
South Africa’s run chase began with drama as they slumped to 15 for two after just two overs. Rain then halted play for about an hour, forcing a revised target of 123 from 17 overs and a restart of the contest at 11:45 p.m.
With both teams fighting to stay in the tournament, the match became a war of attrition. Tristan Stubbs top-scored for South Africa with 29 from 27 balls, Heinrich Klaasen chipped in with a quickfire 22 off 10 balls, and Marco Jansen produced a nerveless 21 not out from 14 balls, deflating the Caribbean side.
Outstanding spells
Starting the final over from left-arm pacer Obed McCoy needing six runs for victory, Jansen cleared the ropes at long-on with the very first delivery, propelling his side into the semi-finals along with England from Group 2.
Chase followed up his batting effort with an excellent spell of three for 12 from three overs of off-spin, while seamers Andre Russell (2-19) and Alzarri Joseph (2-25) contributed with outstanding spells.
“I think when you look on the larger picture, it is a disappointing World Cup. We wanted to win just like any other team, but we weren’t able to win tonight,” said a dejected captain Rovman Powell. “I think as a team we played some good cricket. We played good cricket in patches and tonight was a night where our batters were 15-20 runs short on a difficult wicket.”
He continued: “We are disappointed. We as players are disappointed because we think we had the personnel within our room to actually win a home World Cup. But having said that we have played good cricket, we have entertained [the fans] in patches.”
Sent in to bat, West Indies suffered two significant setbacks inside the first seven balls of their innings when stroke-makers Shai Hope (0) and Nicholas Pooran (1) perished cheaply. Hope sliced the third ball of the game from seamer Jansen to cover point where Stubbs held a sharp catch, while Pooran skied to Jansen on the ropes at long-off in the next over, hitting out against off-spinner Aiden Markram.
Chase held the innings together
Not for the first time, Chase held the innings together, striking three fours and two sixes while posting 81 for the third wicket with Mayers, who notched an identical boundary count. However, with the run rate stalling, Mayers holed out in the deep in the 12th over off Man-of-the-Match left-arm spinner Tabraiz Shamsi (3-27), triggering a collapse that saw West Indies lose six wickets for 32 runs in the space of 35 balls.
Faced with a straightforward required run rate of nearly seven an over, South Africa were quickly in trouble when Russell knocked over dangerous openers Reeza Hendricks (0) and Quinton de Kock (12) in his first over – the second of the innings. Rain added to the tension, but Stubbs put on 27 for the third wicket with captain Aiden Markram (18) after the resumption, and a further 35 for the fourth with Klaasen, who whacked three fours and a six – all from left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie’s solitary over in the seventh, which leaked 20 runs.
At 92 for four at the end of the 11th over, South Africa appeared to have wrested control of the contest with just 31 runs needed from the last six overs. However, Chase removed David Miller (4), Stubbs, and Keshav Maharaj (2) in successive overs, giving West Indies one last sniff.
Jansen and Kagiso Rabada (five not out), who had earlier collided on the ropes at long-off attempting a catch, then collaborated to take South Africa over the line.
