TAROUBA, Trinidad, CMC – Lizelle Lee and Laura Wolvaardt both stroked commanding half-centuries to help South Africa defeat the West Indies in the fourth T20 at the Brian Lara Stadium here Thursday night and keep their hopes of levelling their T20 international series alive.
With the hosts holding a commanding 2-0 lead in the best of five series, and the third T20 having been rained out, South Africa needed a victory to have any chance of drawing level.
And they did just that, as openers Lee and Wolvaardt shared an opening run stand of 89 in 12 overs to help the Proteas overtake the Windies’ score of 135 for three in their 20 overs, as the visitors eased to 136 for two with eight balls to spare.
Lee was in a no-nonsense mood, smashing 54 from just 38 balls, inclusive of five boundaries and three sixes, as she took the Windies’ opening bowling pair of Shamilia Connell and Hayley Matthews to task.
Their opening partnership set South Africa on track for victory, so that even when Lee was eventually dismissed by Afy Fletcher, Sune Luus’ cameo 19 ensured that the visitors got to the target comfortably.
Wolvaardt finished unbeaten on 54 from 57 balls. She struck six boundaries during her innings.
Earlier, West Indies’ opener Natasha McClean also scored a half-century batting through the innings, but at less than a run-a-ball.
Her unbeaten knock of 57 took 61 balls, as the Windies struggled to up the tempo in the latter stages.
Captain Stafanie Taylor scored 26 but took 31 balls to do so, and the hosts depended heavily on Deandra Dottin’s late cameo of 28 from 15 balls to get up to their eventual total, which in the end proved insufficient.
