
Now, weirdly, this time out their opening partnership was 108, but they never really seemed like they were at all on top. Smith and Wilson were not their usual dominant selves, as they meandered to 108 through 27 overs at a measly 4 an over! All the bowlers were economical at the start, with the exception of Ryan Hinds who was the spinner to bowl in the powerplay, which is always tough. Even after Wilson fell, Smith failed to really accelerate, and despite a lovely cameo of 34 from 33 from JP Duminy, other batsmen departed for low scores to Khan, Alford and Narine and South Africa failed to take advantage of their position. Alford appears to be back in to some sort of bowling form, which has rather compensated for the drop off in his batting so far this season!
We came out to bat knowing if we messed this up we would not be likely to get a third chance in the series. We started cautiously, therefore, with Dolston Tuit making 28 fairly slowly to give the innings some form of base, but with Barath and Simmons out early, we became 82/3 and feared another collapse. Thankfully Darren Bravo was in form. He put on 78 in partnership with Sarwan to add to his 40 partnership with Tuit, and his 79 from 103 balls was almost perfectly paced, including 12 fours and a six. We did fear when he was LBW to Morkel with still 56 to score, and we seemed right to when Alford, Benjamin and Hinds departed for a sum total of 21, leaving us needing 25 more with Khan and Sarwan in. Khan scored a quick 15 though, danger was dispelled, and we reached our target with 10 balls to spare.
Series State | West Indies lead the series 2-1 with 2 to play |
Batting Award | Darren Bravo - The highest score of a low-scoring match, in good time too. |
Bowling Award | Imran Khan - Economical and took wickets. Alford is unlucky here! |
Team News | Thought about switching Benjamin for Pollard or Brathwaite for Matthew, but in the end made no changes. |
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