Tabraiz Shamsi returned impressive figures of 4-0-13-2 to help South Africa beat West Indies by a solitary run in the third T20I at St George’s, Grenada. Temba Bavuma’s men have taken a 2-1 lead in the five-match series with the win.
Chasing 168, West Indies brought the target down to 19 off the last two overs. Anrich Nortje (2-29) conceded just four runs and got Nicholas Pooran in the penultimate over to take the equation down to 15 from the final six balls.
Kagiso Rabada started the last over with a wide, followed by a four, two dot balls, and then a couple. This brought the target to eight runs off two balls. The fifth ball was a yorker that Fabian Allen had no answer to. All Rabada then needed was to bowl a legal delivery. He did, though Allen smashed that at the cow corner for a six.
Earlier, Reeza Hendricks (17 in 11 balls) and Quinton de Kock (72 in 51) had got South Africa off to a blistering start after Kieron Pollard asked them to bat for the third time on the trot. Obed McCoy got Hendricks and Bavuma (1) in the fifth over to reduce the tourists to 44/2.
In his 50th T20I appearance, de Kock added a 43-run stand for the third wicket with Aiden Markram (23 off 18), and another 60 with Rassie van der Dussen (32 off 24) to steady the ship. He fell to Dwayne Bravo in the 18th over. David Miller and George Linde both failed, as South Africa lost five wickets for 17 runs and finished on 167/8.
McCoy returned a career-best haul of 4-22, while Bravo got 3-25. Jason Holder (3-0-18-0) did a decent job of restricting the runs as well.
Evin Lewis (27 off 21) and Lendl Simmons (22) then shared a 55-run opening stand before Linde got Simmons’ top edge in the seventh over. In the next over, off Shamsi, Lewis departed after a mistimed sweep went straight to van der Dussen.
Coming to bat at No. 3 for the first time, Holder (16 off 11) did not last long. He and Shimron Hetmyer (17 off 10) put on a quickfire 33-run stand for the third wicket before Lungi Ngidi (1-23) got Holder. Andre Russell slammed three sixes in his 16-ball 25, but it eventually went in vain.
Brief Scores
South Africa 167/8 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 72; Obed McCoy 4-22) beat West Indies 166/7 in 20 overs (Evin Lewis 27; Tabraiz Shamsi 2-13) by 1 run. Player of the Match: Tabraiz Shamsi.