South Africa held on to record a 1 run victory against the West Indies to seal a 2-0 series win despite Darren Sammy’s best effect to sneak a victory for the home side..
On a wicket totally unacceptable for international cricket the West Indies struggle with the unpredictable bounce which left the game void of any excitement in the second of a two game series which at best could be called atrocious.
Chasing a total of only 121 the West Indies run chase got off to the worst possible start after skipper Chris Gayle (0) was trapped LBW by Dale Steyn from the final ball of the first over. Andre Fletcher (4) soon followed after he was caught by AB de Villiers to leave the West Indies 9-2.
With the openers gone; Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Dwayne Bravo built a vital partnership of 68 but having taken 11.5 overs to do so the game seemed destined to peter out in front of another poor crowd at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
Despite the slow progress the West Indies remained in the hunt and by the time Chanderpaul’s (29) innings was brought to an end by de Villiers the victory target for the home side was only 44 runs from 32 balls.
Despite the loss of Chanderpaul an outside chance of victory was still possible for the home side but Johan Botha struck back for South Africa taking three quick wickets to remove Bravo (40), Ramnaresh Sarwan (6) and Kieron Pollard (12) to leave the Proteas in complete control.
Amazingly the West Indies refused to expect defeat and with 15 runs still needed off the final over Darren Sammy (12) and Narsingh Deonarine (3) almost sealed an unbelievable victory as the South African’s held on.
Having been put into bat by Chris Gayle; the South African’s found batting on the same wicket as last nights Twenty20 international hard going.
Only David Miller offered any sort of resistant’s top scoring with 33, Miller’s innings came from 26 balls and included 2 sixes.
Using the uneven bounce to their advantage the West Indies controlled the game with Jerome Taylor the pick of the bowlers taking 3 wickets.
With last nights top scorer, Jacques Kallis rested the South African batting line up looked very week and it proved to be the case with the top order only contributed 59 runs on a slow wicket.
Openers Loots Bosman (0) and Graeme Smith (15) failed to get going as the Proteas innings never got out of first gear in another excitement free game in Antigua.
With wickets falling at regular intervals each new batsman could barley score at a run a ball as they each tried to get into rhythm on an unpredictable wicket.
AB deVilliers (19), JP Duminy (13) and Alviro Petersen (8) all departed cheaply with deVilliers the only batsman with a strike rate over 100 before the arrival of Miller.
The only highlight of the Proteas innings was the debut of 20 year old Miller who looked like the only batsman capable of attacking the West Indies bowlers as he shared a vital partnership of 57 with spinner Johan Botha (23).
On a wicket totally unacceptable for international cricket the West Indies struggle with the unpredictable bounce which left the game void of any excitement in the second of a two game series which at best could be called atrocious.
Chasing a total of only 121 the West Indies run chase got off to the worst possible start after skipper Chris Gayle (0) was trapped LBW by Dale Steyn from the final ball of the first over. Andre Fletcher (4) soon followed after he was caught by AB de Villiers to leave the West Indies 9-2.
With the openers gone; Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Dwayne Bravo built a vital partnership of 68 but having taken 11.5 overs to do so the game seemed destined to peter out in front of another poor crowd at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
Despite the slow progress the West Indies remained in the hunt and by the time Chanderpaul’s (29) innings was brought to an end by de Villiers the victory target for the home side was only 44 runs from 32 balls.
Despite the loss of Chanderpaul an outside chance of victory was still possible for the home side but Johan Botha struck back for South Africa taking three quick wickets to remove Bravo (40), Ramnaresh Sarwan (6) and Kieron Pollard (12) to leave the Proteas in complete control.
Amazingly the West Indies refused to expect defeat and with 15 runs still needed off the final over Darren Sammy (12) and Narsingh Deonarine (3) almost sealed an unbelievable victory as the South African’s held on.
Having been put into bat by Chris Gayle; the South African’s found batting on the same wicket as last nights Twenty20 international hard going.
Only David Miller offered any sort of resistant’s top scoring with 33, Miller’s innings came from 26 balls and included 2 sixes.
Using the uneven bounce to their advantage the West Indies controlled the game with Jerome Taylor the pick of the bowlers taking 3 wickets.
With last nights top scorer, Jacques Kallis rested the South African batting line up looked very week and it proved to be the case with the top order only contributed 59 runs on a slow wicket.
Openers Loots Bosman (0) and Graeme Smith (15) failed to get going as the Proteas innings never got out of first gear in another excitement free game in Antigua.
With wickets falling at regular intervals each new batsman could barley score at a run a ball as they each tried to get into rhythm on an unpredictable wicket.
AB deVilliers (19), JP Duminy (13) and Alviro Petersen (8) all departed cheaply with deVilliers the only batsman with a strike rate over 100 before the arrival of Miller.
The only highlight of the Proteas innings was the debut of 20 year old Miller who looked like the only batsman capable of attacking the West Indies bowlers as he shared a vital partnership of 57 with spinner Johan Botha (23).
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