South Africa vs. West Indies: Winners and Losers from Cricket World Cup Match
What a difference five days make, hey? After being hammered by India over the weekend, South Africa bounced back to their brilliant best to thrash the West Indies by 257 runs on Friday. They also managed to do so without Vernon Philander and JP Duminy, something which would have made quite a few people very nervous.
Luckily, the sleeping giant inside AB de Villiers had awakened and he helped his team to a memorable win. We’ve picked some winners and losers, add yours in the comments.
Winner: South Africa’s Net-Run Rate
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The win has helped South Africa's net-run rate sky rocket to +1.260. South Africa will most probably still finish second in the group, behind India, so it means they will play whichever team finishes third in Pool A.
That will most probably be England or Sri Lanka and South Africa will fancy their chances against either side.
Winners: South Africa’s Other Backup Players
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The last time South Africa used a back-up player, it ended in disaster. Wayne Parnell was carted around the park against India when he came in to replace Farhaan Behardien.
Kyle Abbott’s recent record in ODIs was shaky, so South Africa breathed a sigh of relief when he delivered with figures of 8-0-37-2.
Rilee Rossouw, who came in for an injured JP Duminy, was also impressive with a solid 61 off 39.
It’ll be a big relief to know that their squad players aren’t completely hopeless and they can step up when it matters.
Winner: The Record Books
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AB de Villiers etched some more writing into the one-day cricket record books, becoming the fastest to 150 runs in a one-day international. There were also 261 runs scored in the last 20 overs which is a World Cup record. The winning margin is also the joint-worst defeat in World Cups.
It’s been quite the World Cup for batsmen, the poor bowlers are having a torrid time being carted all over the park.
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Losers: The West Indies
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Jason Holder scored some runs for the West Indies but, other than that, absolutely everything that could have possibly gone wrong did go wrong. There was disastrous bowling, terrible fielding and complete and total ineptitude with the bat.
Even the most ardent supporter will find it difficult to conjure up a positive for the men from the Caribbean. It’s a massive downer after their emphatic win over Zimbabwe earlier this week.
Loser: Quinton De Kock
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Since returning from injury, Quinton de Kock has looked mightily uncomfortable. In all three games, he has thrown his wicket away with a wayward shot. Some might have thought that he just needed a little bit more time out in the middle, but his shot selection has been atrocious.
The question for South Africa now is what to do with De Kock if he does not come good in the group stages? Dropping him will heap more pressure on AB de Villiers if he takes over the gloves, but when it comes to crunch matches, South Africa cannot afford a weak link in their team.
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