West Indies won the toss and JO Holder captain of the team elected to bowl first. Watch Online West Indies Tri-Nation Series 2016 Highlights Today, 6th Match: WI v SA at Basseterre, Wednesday, June 15, 2016. South Africa had their finest batting performance and the only 300-plus score of the tri-series thus far, led by Hashim Amla, who struck his 23rd ODI century and amassed 1000 runs in the format against the West Indies.
But the visitors did more than just that to increase their chances of making it to the championship game. Imran Tahir upset the West Indies, who had never been able to chase a target above 300, by taking 7 for 45, the greatest ODI returns by a South African bowler and the fastest to 100 ODI wickets from the nation. After dismissing West Indies for 204, South Africa took the lead in the standings and earned a bonus point.
As a consequence of the outcome, all three teams concluded the St. Kitts portion of the series with the same standings as they had at the completion of the Guyana leg. After four games, Australia, South Africa, and the West Indies have won two and lost two. Amla emphasized in the run-up to Wednesday that the top six players needed to assume greater accountability. He adhered to those remarks on Wednesday, starting with Quinton de Kock for 182 runs.
After recovering from a hamstring strain, all-rounder Chris Morris was moved up to No. 3 and made a brief appearance before Faf du Plessis spearheaded the closing attack. In the final ten overs, South Africa amassed 105 runs. While this was the finest surface the West Indies had thus far in the series for batters, their bowlers lacked penetration and control.
Only the two spinners, Sunil Narine and Sulieman Benn, were able to keep things from becoming any worse as four of their six-man attack gave up more than six runs an over. The pacemen struggled to locate the proper lengths, and South Africa scored runs with ease. Amla outscored de Kock in the opening exchanges. After a chanceless stand in the 27th over, the two reached 50 in nine overs, 100 in the beginning of the 18th, and 150 inside the 27th.
Amla tried to pick up more speed after reaching his century off 89 balls. After diving low to retrieve a ball that had reached the fine-leg boundary, he edged one to third man with a powerful flash and finally holed out to long-off in search of his maiden six. Morris was pushed forward even though it appeared like de Villiers was about to enter. When Jerome Taylor yorked de Kock’s off stump in the following over, it looked like a mistake.
After 103 balls, the left-hander had made 71. De Villiers did not show up, though. Morris hit four boundaries in a spectacular 40 off 26 before he was trapped deep midwicket. When De Villiers did show up, he and du Plessis played out Narine before becoming wild. The two scorched sixty-four runs in seven overs to put South Africa over 300. Du Plessis reached over 350 and remained undefeated with 73.
Opening players Andre Fletcher and Johnson Charles of the West Indies established a similar blistering tempo, capitalizing on the efforts of Kagiso Rabada and Wayne Parnell on bowling short. Before Tahir was brought on, the score had soared to 58 in the first six overs. Farhaan Behardien’s amazing catch at the midwicket boundary at the end of his second over allowed the legspinner to make the initial incision.
With the ball dying on him, Fletcher swung hard, but Behardien caught it just inches off the ground. Tahir was assisted by Morris and Tabraiz Shamsi in controlling the West Indies. Charles was being manipulated by the spinners while Shamsi tricked him with a googly that he cut far away. When Parnell saw that assistance was available, he turned to offbreaks and bowled Darren Bravo, forcing Marlon Samuels to pull off a surprise victory.
West Indies had seven wickets in hand and needed to score 254 runs in just 204 balls. Before top-edging a googly from Shamsi to deep backward square leg for eleven, Denesh Ramdin hovered about. Tahir then took command. In just his 58th encounter, he claimed his 100th wicket when Samuels edged out to de Kock.
In the same over, he dismissed all three of the big-hitting all-rounders from the West Indies. Carlos Brathwaite was given a golden duck, Jason Holder was bowled leg before wicket for 19 off 31, and Kieron Pollard was caught at deep midwicket to give Tahir five. West Indies were bowled out in 38 overs after losing their final five wickets for 35 runs.
ODI no. 3747 | 2016 season
Played at Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts
15 June 2016 – day/night match (50-over match)
South Africa team
HM Amla, Q de Kock†, F du Plessis, AB de Villiers*, JP Duminy, F Behardien, CH Morris, WD Parnell, K Rabada, Imran Tahir, T Shamsi.
West Indies team
J Charles, ADS Fletcher, DM Bravo, MN Samuels, D Ramdin†, KA Pollard, CR Brathwaite, JO Holder*, SP Narine, SJ Benn, JE Taylor.
Umpires – GO Brathwaite and NJ Llong (England)
TV umpire – RK Illingworth (England)
Match referee – JJ Crowe (New Zealand)
Reserve umpire – JS Wilson
