South Africa vs. West Indies, 2nd T20I, 2015: Highlights, Scorecard and Report
West Indies staged a stunning fightback to beat South Africa by four wickets in their second T20 International and take a 2-0 series lead, chasing down 231 with a world-record 236/6 haul.
After winning the toss, West Indies elected to bowl first at the New Wanderers Stadium, and that decision seemingly paid off as the visitors took two early wickets.
Opener Morne van Wyk was sent on his way after facing just three deliveries thanks to a Sulieman Benn ball, and Rilee Rossouw’s wicket soon followed at the hands of Jason Holder.
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Sitting on just 21/2, it wasn’t looking good for the hosts. But cometh the hour, cometh the man—Faf du Plessis.
The South Africa captain produced a truly remarkable display at the crease, slogging away everything that the West India order could throw at him.
It took him an astonishing 46 balls to reach his maiden century, per Cricket South Africa, but his joy was short-lived, as 10 balls later the wheels fell off.
Du Plessis caught a Holder delivery all wrong and pulled his shot straight into the grateful hands of Dwayne Bravo, but the damage was already done.
Following David Miller and Justin Ontong’s respective hauls of 47 and 19, South Africa sat on 222/5 after their captain’s wicket and suddenly looked in full control of the match.
Farhaan Behardien and David Wiese added the cherry to Du Plessis’ cake, seeing the hosts close out with a score of 231/7, as we see below:
| Batsmen | Dismissal | Bowler | Runs | Balls | Fours | Sixes |
| Rossouw | c Ramdin | b Holder | 15 | 9 | 0 | 2 |
| van Wyk | c Pollard | b Benn | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| du Plessis | c Dwayne Bravo | b Holder | 119 | 56 | 11 | 5 |
| Miller | run out (Russell) | 47 | 26 | 4 | 3 | |
| Ontong | c Holder | b Dwayne Bravo | 19 | 12 | 2 | 1 |
| Behardien | not out | 8 | 12 | 0 | 0 | |
| Wiese | c Dwayne Smith | b Dwayne Bravo | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Abbott | run out (Ramdin) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Extras | 11 | |||||
| TOTAL | 231 |
The chase was then on for the West Indies, and despite the fact that reaching 232 would be a world record, they made the impossible possible.
Usual suspects Dwayne Smith and Chris Gayle opened up, but the former could only reach 17 runs before Marchant de Lange trapped him leg before wicket.
However, all that succeeded in doing was springing Gayle into life, as he quite simply went on a rampage.
The 35-year-old was just in one of those moods whereby the boundary was the only thought going through his unstoppable mind as the runs kept piling up.
Gayle reached 90 after just 40 balls before edging Wiese’s delivery behind for Van Wyk to catch, but it was still an incredibly impressive knock. Journalist Freddie Wilde revealed the extent of the West Indian’s brilliance:
Marlon Samuels was also going strong alongside Gayle, but he suffered a similar fate to his partner shortly after his dismissal as a Wiese delivery once again proved too hot.
At 178/3, it was anybody’s match, but as the West Indian wickets tumbled, South Africa looked like the favourites.
Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell and Bravo failed to register anything meaningful on the scorecard, leaving captain Darren Sammy and Denesh Ramdin to try to win the game with just three overs remaining at 209/6.
However, the skipper proved to be in inspired form, as he closed out the match with a massive six to give the West Indies a four-wicket victory on 236/6:
| Batsmen | Dismissal | Bowler | Runs | Balls | Fours | Sixes |
| Dwayne Smith | lbw | b de Lange | 17 | 9 | 4 | 0 |
| Gayle | c van Wyk | b Wiese | 90 | 41 | 9 | 7 |
| Samuels | c Behardien | b Wiese | 60 | 39 | 7 | 2 |
| Pollard | c Behardien | b Wiese | 7 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| Russell | c Miller | b Abbott | 14 | 6 | 1 | 1 |
| Dwayne Bravo | c Ontong | b Phangiso | 10 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| Sammy | not out | 20 | 7 | 2 | 1 | |
| Ramdin | not out | 7 | 4 | 1 | 0 | |
| Extras | 11 | |||||
| TOTAL | 236 |
While the 2-0 series lead will be the most important thing to the visitors, the victory also marks the biggest ever chase in a T20 international, per bet365:
More than that, though, the Gayle-inspired West Indies have now set the bar for any T20 chase, not just on the international scene, as Cricket365 revealed:
Following the match, an understandably ecstatic Sammy revealed that his side's incredible chase was a team effort, per Sky Sports:
"At half-time all the boys were very confident. They said that if South Africa could get 220 then so could we—we just had to break it down. Chris [Gayle] said two guys have to get fifty, striking at a 190, and the rest chip in and that’s what happened. Chasing 220 we knew would take a team effort. This is the beauty of T20. We backed the guys in the dressing room. It’s good to have Chris [Gayle] in the side, but [Dwayne] Bravo and [Denesh] Ramdin played a crucial role if needed to work the ball around, and myself, [Kieron] Pollard, [Andre] Russell, [Jason] Holder come in at the end.
"
When it comes to this short, exhilarating format, there’s no side better than the West Indies, even though its Test form is somewhat shambolic.
The teams will do battle once again on Wednesday, where South Africa need to find a way to victory or the series will have slipped from their grasp.
However, based on Monday’s encounter, there’s nothing the Proteas can do when Gayle and the West Indies are in the mood for big numbers.
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