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West Indies are out of the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup. On a night interrupted by showers in Antigua, it was the self-titled Rainbow Nation that shone in the end as South Africa emerged with a three-wicket win—with five balls to spare.
Allrounder Roston Chase starred with bat and ball for the Maroon Men while pacer Alzarri Joseph took two vital wickets for 25 runs. But the co-hosts failed to recover from a poor start with the bat, as they posted a total of 138 for 8.
But it was not enough to help his team to the semifinal round.
Photo: CWI Media
A downpour saw the target changed to 123 from 17 overs. And, despite a few scares, South Africa prevailed—just as they have been doing for the entire tournament so far.
“It was quite nervy at the end but I think that has been the theme of our tournament,” said South Africa left arm wrist spinner and man of the match Tabraiz Shamsi. “Finding a way to win no matter what the situation is.”
South Africa captain Aiden Markram won the toss and elected to field. And he would not regret it.
Opener Shai Hope, who made a superb unbeaten 82 against USA on Friday, was gone without scoring off the first ball he faced. Nicholas Pooran, the second highest scorer of the 2024 T20 World Cup, lasted just three balls and contributed a solitary run along the way.
Photo: CWI Media
West Indies were 5 for 2 after just seven balls and, although they managed 47 runs in the powerplay, the air of vulnerability never left completely.
Chase, dropped by Anrich Nortje on with the Maroon Men on 17 for 2, went on to score 52 and featured in a vital 81-run partnership for the third wicket with Kyle Mayers—the only pairing that managed over 20 runs.
Mayers, preferred to Johnson Charles, dug in for 35 off 34 balls in his first and only innings of the tournament. But a brilliant run out by Nortje accounted for Andre Russell on 15, just as he seemed to be accelerating.
And captain Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford and Akeal Hosein combined to add an aggregate seven runs to the total—and Hosein had six of them while Rutherford did not trouble the scorers—as West Indies closed on their lowest total of the tournament from 20 overs.
Photo: ICC/ Getty
Shamsi took 3 wickets for 27 runs while the South African spinners collectively took 5 wickets for 79 from 12 overs.
Markram described the West Indies total of 135 as “subpar” and his opposing captain Rovman Powell did not disagree.
“This is a batting performance we will try our best to forget, especially in the middle overs,” said Powell. “[…] It is the first time in the competition we lost wickets in clusters and that always breaks the back of a batting team.”
Photo: Associated Press
South Africa’s win probability stood at 78.87%, as openers Reeza Hendricks and Quinton de Kock strode out to bat. But medium pacer Andre Russell sent both back to their dressing room in his first over as the Proteas were 15 for 2 after 12 balls.
Then came the rain, which revised South Africa’s total to 123 from 17 overs.
By the end of their five over powerplay, the Proteas were 41 for 2 and they generally managed to stay ahead of the required run rate from there on.
Photo: ICC/ Getty
The seventh over saw Powell introduce Gudakesh Motie and the left-arm spinner was mauled for 20 runs by Henrik Klaasen. South Africa were 70 for 3 now with a required run rate of 5.3 per over.
There were just four boundaries over the next nine overs though, with Chase (3) and Joseph (1) accounting for four wickets as the hosts fought back—buoyed by a crowd that refused to give up on their boys.
“They fought to the very end,” said Powell.
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868
But there just were not enough runs to defend. Ironically Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada, who featured in a worrying collision on the boundary as they unsuccessfully tried to cut out a Mayers boundary, combined to see South Africa through at the death.
Rabada hit Chase’s final ball of the 16th over for four while Jansen clouted Obed McCoy’s first delivery of the final over for six. And that was that.
“[There is] a lot of relief to get to the semifinal,” said Markram, who suggested that his troops mistimed their acceleration to the finish line. “[…] We would have liked to be a lot more convincing with the bat in the hand… We get ourselves in tricky positions but just get ourselves over the line.
Photo: ICC/ Getty
“[…] We haven’t played our best game of cricket [at this World Cup] yet.”
Powell urged West Indies cricket fans to view their team’s performance through wide lenses.
“I think the cricket we played for the last 12 months or so is commendable,” he said. “We moved from number nine in the world to number 3… There [has been] a lot of improvement, and there is a lot of buzz around the Caribbean about West Indies cricket again.”
Photo: CWI Media
The more immediate outcome, though, is West Indies join co-hosts United States in saying goodbye to the 2024 World Cup.
England, South Africa and two from Afghanistan, India, Australia and Bangladesh will contest the prized trophy now.
(Summarised scores)
Toss: South Africa
West Indies: 135 for 8 (20 overs) (Roston Chase 52, Kyle Mayers 35; Tabraiz Shamsi 3/27)
South Africa: 124 for 7 (16.1 overs) (Tristan Stubbs 29, Heinrich Klaasen 22; Roston Chase 3/12, Andre Russell 2/19, Alzarri Joseph 2/25)
Player-of-the-Match: Tabraiz Shamsi
Result: South Africa win by 3 wickets (DLS method)
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