(CMC) – All-rounder Roston Chase blasted a career-best, unbeaten fifty in a Man-of-the-Match effort, and left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie followed up with a box-office spell as the West Indies held their nerve superbly to trounce South Africa by 16 runs and seal the three-match series yesterday.
Opting to bat first in the second Twenty20 International at Sabina Park, the home side rattled up an impressive 207 for seven off their 20 overs, with the 32-year-old Chase top scoring with a scintillating 38-ball 67 not out – his maiden half-century in the shortest format.
In reply, South Africa raced to 81 without loss in only the sixth over, with Quinton de Kock (41) and Reeza Hendricks (34) playing with gay abandon and leaving the West Indies scrambling to find solutions to the haemorrhaging of runs.
Motie came to his side’s rescue, producing a brilliant four-over spell of three for 22 as South Africa lost their next seven wickets for 86 runs to watch as the innings came off the rails at 191 for seven off their 20.
Captain Rassie van der Dussen struck a last ditch 30 from 22 balls with two sixes, but the visitors lacked the firepower they needed in order to rally.
Fast bowling all-rounder Romario Shepherd and off-spinner Chase grabbed only a wicket apiece, but they too put the shackles on the Proteas, scoring with stingy four-over spells that yielded 23 and 26 runs, respectively.
The victory followed on the heels of Thursday’s 28-run win and propelled the West Indies’ preparations for next month’s ICC Twenty20 World Cup into high gear.
Captain Brandon King once again provided the ideal launch for the innings, belting 36 from 22 deliveries with two fours and three sixes as the West Indies raced to 54 for one inside the power play.
Johnson Charles became the first casualty when he skied to deep mid-wicket in the fourth over for seven with the score on 26, and King put on a further 28 for the second wicket with Kyle Mayers (32) before following in the seventh over, tugging an innocuous delivery from leg-spinner Nqabayomzi Peter (2-32) to long on.
The left-handed Mayers picked up the slack, clobbering two fours and three sixes in a 16-ball cameo, but his demise, caught on the ropes at deep-square, left the West Indies stuttering on 83 for three in the ninth over.
Chase, in only his 13th T20I, then emerged from a slow start to pummel seven fours and a brace of sixes as he anchored successive half-century stands to ensure the West Indies dominated the back end of the innings.
He posted 56 for the fourth wicket with Andre Fletcher (29) and a further 63 for the fifth wicket with Shepherd, whose 13-ball 26 included a four and three sixes.
Chase stormed to fifty off 30 balls in the 17th over, raising the landmark with a mighty six over mid-wicket off pacer Lungi Ngidi (2-41) as the West Indies gathered a whopping 80 runs from the last six overs.
De Kock, especially, then stunned the West Indies, blasting four fours and four sixes in an entertaining 17-ball stay at the crease, putting on 81 off 30 balls with opening partner Hendricks, who struck two fours and three sixes in an 18-ball cameo.
Left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein got the breakthrough when he bowled de Kock as the left-hander backed away to cut, and with only two runs added in the next over, Hendricks missed a paddle at a faster, full-length ball from Chase and had his stumps also rattled.
The two wickets hauled the home side back in the contest, and though Ryan Rickelton (19) and Matthew Breetzke (12) added 30 for the third wicket, there were no fireworks as boundaries became rare.
Breetzke was eventually run out in the 10th at the striker’s end, attempting a second; Rickelton skied to Mayers at cover in the 12th and Andile Phehlukwayo (3) was brilliantly taken at deep cover by Joseph in the 15th from Motie to leave South Africa in trouble at 138 for five.
van der Dussen tried to rescue the chase in a 28-run, sixth wicket partnership with Wiaan Mulder (9) but Motie got him to mis-hit a full toss to long off in the 17th over, effectively ending his side’s resistance.
