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Saturday 26 March 2016

ICC WT20:West indies in semis

West Indies qualified for the World T20 semi-finals by beating South Africa

  The West Indians' third victory in three outings in India - secured with three wickets and three balls to spare - means Eoin Morgan's England side will qualify for the competition's last four they beat Sri Lanka on Saturday.Batting first S.A had bad start , run out of Hashim Amla midway through the first over set the tone for a nervy evening at the crease for both sides.Faf Du Plessis, Rilee Rossouw, AB De Villiers and David Miller all lost their wickets cheaply - the first two miscuing to catchers in the infield and the latter two clean bowled.

De Kock ended with 47 from 46 balls and Wiese with 28 from 26, while Chris Morris contributed 16 as the Proteas challenged their opponents to chase at a run a ball for victory.

Gayle was dismissed cheaply, bowled by Kagiso Rabada for four, in the reply, and the West Indians lost wickets at regular intervals until they found themselves needing nine from the final over with three wickets in hand.

Rabada's first ball was a dot but Craig Braithwaite launched Rabada over deep mid-wicket for six to ease West Indies' nerves before late-cutting through Amla's diving hands at backward point for four to complete a narrow victory.


After a longish break, West Indies lost the plot as Tahir bagged two-in-two to bring the Proteas back. Wiese followed it up with a good 18th over, but Samuels managed two streaky boundaries in the penultimate over to ease a few nerves. When Rabada began the last over with a dot, West Indies were under serious pressure but Brathwaite muscled a six next ball to make it a formality from there on. With this loss, things are not fully in South Africa's hands. They not only need to win against Sri Lanka, but also have to hope that Sri Lanka would beat England.

Faf almost got emotional as the players shake hands. South Africa fought hard, but they didn't have enough runs. West Indies have managed to seal this in the end. They should have won comfortably for the situation they were in earlier. Anyway, those two points are in their bag and they progress to the next round. Chasing a modest total, the crowd roared when Gayle hit a first-ball four, but Rabada castled him next ball to get South Africa off to a good start. A mix-up saw Fletcher walking back. Charles swung at the ball and managed a few hits to the fence before throwing it away. Bravo came and went but Samuels dropped anchor at one end.

Marlon Samuels was adjudged Man of the Match he said "Sometimes you have to bat according to the situation. My job was to go out there and build partnerships with my partners. Once I am set, I know one over can change the game. Not bat differently, if Gayle and Charles get going early, then I can come in and step on the gas as I did against England. It was a bit on the slower side and credit to South African bowlers for bowling well. The bowlers are doing a wonderful job and hopefully they can carry right through. Badree and Benn have bowled well and we have managed to get early wickets. We have a mix of different players in the team."

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