Markram, Mulder star in South Africa's series win
West Indies collapse from a position of strength as South Africa take series 3-2
West Indies collapse from a position of strength as South Africa take series 3-2
Scorer: Venkat Raghav | Commentator: @himanshu_a30
The South Africa side is all smiles while posing with the trophy, and why not? They came back from 0-1 down to win the series and didn't have Nortje for the decider. Yet, they came back well to edge past West Indies, who now host Australia for five T20Is and three ODIs starting just days later. But it's a wrap from us here for this tour, and a goodbye from Raghav, Shashank and me, Himanshu!
Soham : "No disrespect to SA but if WI couldn't win a series vs SA then the upcoming series against Pakistan and Australia look even more intimidating "
The winning captain Temba Bavuma will round off the presentation: "Very delighted, it's been an incredible effort from the boys. Winning the series can only boost our confidence. Looking at the World Cup gives us belief. Things are gelling, we were put under pressure from a skill point of view. Big stride forward for us."
Tabraiz Shamsi is the Player of the Series: "[I'm] somebody who likes to watch a lot of footage. Full credit goes to the entire bowling unit, which is why we won the series. There is a running joke in the team that the safest place to hit the ball is to hit it to me! People never gave us a chance. The teams played really well. To win 3-2 at their home ground shows something about the team."
Here's Kieron Pollard: "160-odd seems like a winning total, but we couldn't get over the line. We made the same mistakes over and over again. We had set up the game well with guys in the shed, and so it's disappointing... One of the positives for us is the young bowlers - McCoy, Sinclair. Hopefully, we can regroup as in five or six days we have the Australians in the Caribbean. [Squad for the T20 WC?] It's there and thereabouts, we have an idea of what to do."
Aiden Markram is the Player of the Match: "[On his stand with de Kock] Lot of credit has to go to Quinny, he's played a lot of T20 cricket. He was guiding me, as he's spent a lot of time on this pitch. He's a special player. [South Africa's fielding in the series] Credit to the fielding coach - he's put us through the hard yards. The attitude of the players towards Justin Ontong has been great."
Time now for the presentation for the final time on this tour.
Andy: "Congrats SA, you guys totally deserve to win the series. Well played!" --- That's the spirit!
Muhammad Abbas : "Problem with this windies team is they have too many allrounders and not many specialist in their lineup... impact players like bravo Russell pollard can only fit one per team as we have seen in IPL or any other franchise league"
Morné: "With that over, Ngidi narrowly manages too not concede the most runs in a bilateral series, staying on 197. Chris Jordan still holds the record, conceding 198 runs against India earlier this year." --- That's some observation.
Julian Freeman: "AB called it by 20 runs. Just shows you he knows his stuff " --- Isn't he a genius?
For once it did feel that South Africa were at least 20 short after de Kock and Markram were firing at the top, but their bowlers did it again.
5.53pm And so the visitors take both the Test and the T20I series. A very competitive series comes to an end with yet another total defended. West Indies were given a good platform by Lewis, who fired again at the top, but his middle-order colleagues couldn't take it much further. Credit to Shamsi, whose economical and impactful spin bowling continues to make a dent in the opposition line-up. Not sure how much hurting his hamstring affected Pollard, but his and Russell's wickets back-to-back meant South Africa sniffed a win right then.
Suresh Ch: "Issue with WI is their batting line-up. No proper 1 or 2 down batsmen. Boss is a misfit at 3."
Edwards is the last man, but at the bowler's end as the batters crossed
OC McCoy c Mulder b Ngidi 1 (3b 0x4 0x6) SR: 33.33
Ngidi to complete the formalities
Rohit B: "Ngidi is the weak link in this South African bowling line up. On the other hand, Mulder has been a great introduction today, can really hold one end in the middle overs and find the crucial wicket too!"
West Indies collapse from a position of strength as South Africa take series 3-2
de Kock's opening partner remains far from finalised; captain says a "seaming allrounder will come back into the mix"
They have lost eight out of the 10 T20I deciders