West Indies bounced back off two consecutive defeats to level the series with a 21-run win over South Africa, on Thursday. Dwayne Bravo claimed four wickets after Kieron Pollard’s blitz helped them reach 167 in 20 overs.
For South Africa, none barring Quinton de Kock stood up to the occasion. De Kock made 60 off 43, while the next highest score was Aiden Markram’s 20. Apart from them, only David Miller and Kagiso Rabada could touch the double-digit mark.
For the first time in the series, Temba Bavuma called correctly and put West Indies in. The decision to start the attack with Markram backfired. Lendl Simmons went after him, amassing 20 off the over, with two fours and as many sixes. Evin Lewis then welcomed Lungi Ngidi with a six over mid-on, but was undone soon after by Anrich Nortje.
That brought Chris Gayle out in the middle. He started his innings with a boundary, but could only add one more before falling to Rabada.
Simmons, meanwhile, carried on with his assault and fell three short of fifty when he was trapped by George Linde leg-before. Tabraiz Shamsi and Linde once again managed to apply brakes in the middle overs.
Shamsi dismissed Andre Russell on 9 to reduce the hosts to 101/6 in 15.3 overs. Pollard then played a blistering cameo, smashing three back-to-back sixes off Rabada in the penultimate over. He completed his half-century in 24 balls, with a six off Ngidi in the last over.
Ngidi conceded 48 runs without taking a wicket. Shamsi and Linde were economical, conceding just 29 runs in eight overs combined, and picked up four wickets between them.
De Kock single-handedly kept the chase alive as wickets tumbled at the other end. Reeza Hendricks and Bavuma departed early, while Markram could only manage run-a-ball 20 before getting bowled by Russell.
De Kock kept hitting frequent boundaries to keep the asking rate in check, but one such attempt found Simmons at the point. Bravo (4-0-19-4) then wiped off the tail to restrict the tourists to 146/9.
Brief score: West Indies 167/6 in 20 overs (Kieron Pollard 51*; Tabraiz Shamsi 2-13) beat South Africa 146/9 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 60; Dwayne Bravo 4-19) by 21 runs. Player of the Match: Kieron Pollard.