West Indies v South Africa

The Host’s Battle for Survival
In the super eight encounter on Wednesday the host nation took on South Africa. It was a must win situation for the West Indies. A win in this match would have ensured the survival of West Indies in this cricket world cup whether a loss would have ensured their ousted from the tournament. The match was equally important for South Africa after their upsetting loss to Bangladesh. A loss would have also dampened the chances of South Africa in this cricket world cup. Both the teams were balanced on papers and the match was evenly poised before the start.

Coin rolled in favor of Lara
Brian Lara won the toss for West Indies. West Indies went ahead with the customary practice of this world cup and put South Africa into bat. He showed faith in the quick bowlers in his squad. The conditions in the morning were as such that it favored the bowl to seam. However the flipside of this decision was that the wicket would tend to get slower on the later part of the match.

Slow and shaky start
South Africa started their innings on a slower note with both the openers seeing through the rough bowls by the pacers. The run rate was low with just 21 runs on board from 7 overs. At this juncture they lost the wicket of their skipper Graeme Smith. Graeme Smith again failed to score in this match by scoring just 7 runs from 22 balls.
Protease butchered the Windies bowling…
Brian Lara delayed the last power play of the match. He took it in the 45th over of the match! South Africa was well placed at 269-3 by then. The pair during this stage Mark Boucher and Gibbs were ready to make full use of this glorious mistiming by the West Indies captain. Both of them took the West Indian bowling for a ride and sent most of the deliveries over the boundary. Boucher at his devastating best hit 5 sixes and 2 boundaries to score 52 runs from 23 balls before he was caught and bowled by Dwayne Bravo. Gibbs was equally dangerous to rout the Windies bowling with 3 sixes and 4 boundaries to score 61 runs from 40 balls. South Africa posted a huge total of 356 runs from 50 overs for loss of 4 wickets.

West Indies loose early wicket…
West Indies starting to chase the mammoth total lost Shivnaraneine Chanderpaul in the 3rd over of the match. Chanderpaul scored 4 runs from 7 deliveries. Chris Gayle and Darren Smith then held the innings together for a while and took the score to 65 runs in 10.6 overs. They also accelerated the run rate in the initial power play overs. Smith was first to go scoring 33 runs from 27 balls followed by Chris Gayle scoring 32 runs from 35 balls.

The middle order crumbled…
The West Indian middle order batting failed to respond to such a huge total. The wickets kept on falling at regular interval and they never looked settled in the match. Brian Lara was out on 21 runs from 26 balls. The most successful batsman of the West Indian innings was Ramnaresh Sarwan who stood at the wicket till the 39th over of the match. He scored a well made 92 runs from 75 balls. Although their scoring rate was moderate they never had enough wickets in hand to go for big shots. The other successful batsman down the order was the last wicket standing DB Powell who scored 48 runs from 36 balls and remained not out.

Comfortable win for the Proteas
South Africa won the match very comfortably. Their bowlers stuck to their task of maintaining the line and length of the bowl. Shaun Pollock, Jaques Kallis, and Graeme Smith picked up 2 scalps each to contribute to the cause of win. The pacers Andre Nel and Makhaya Ntini grabbed 1 wicket each in the West Indian innings. Together they brought home South Africa triumphant by a margin of 67 runs. The same margin of runs they have lost to Bangladesh. They regained their lost form and secured their position in the cricket world cup. West Indies with this loss are out from this cricket world cup and will not find a berth in the semi finals.

Man of the match
The South African opening batsman AB de Villiers was invested with the title of man of the match. He was rewarded for his devastating century that unsettled the West Indian team. His efforts helped his side to compile a huge total that was hard to achieve. It was double treat for the Proteas opener with the maiden ton in the one day international along with the man of the match title.