Player-of-the-Match batting from Captain Brandon King and steady bowling from left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie guided ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup co-hosts West Indies had a 28-run victory in their warm-up series against South Africa at Sabina Park in Jamaica recently.
King, leading the Caribbean side, belted six sixes and six fours in an exhilarating 79 from 45 balls, taking the hosts to 175 for eight after they were put in to bat in the first T20I of the three-match series .
Motie then rebel against a career-best 87 off 51 balls from South African opener Reeza Hendricks and captured 3 for 25 from his allotted four overs before the visitors were dismissed for 147 in 19.5 overs.
Pacer Matthew Forde ended with 3 for 27 from 2.5 overs and Obed McCoy finished with 2 for 15 from three overs to completely destroy the Proteas batting ensuring that no batsman other than Hendricks reached 20.
With the Caribbean side aiming to clinch a third T20 world title and become the first to win the global showpiece on home soil captain King said, “We are heading into a World Cup, so we want to be playing good cricket going into that.”
“We got the win, so we are happy about that, and I think all round, we played well.”
“I think I know the conditions very well, and I know that it is easier to bat against the new ball, so you have to try to get a really good start because when the ball gets older it gets more difficult to score, and we saw that in both innings. That was my plan going out there, and I executed it well.”
King added, “At the midway point of our innings, I thought we could have gotten 200 or so because we had wickets in hand — but it’s a difficult pitch to bat on when the ball gets older, so we still ended up getting a competitive total.
“I think (Motie) is a very skillful bowler, a very smart bowler. He changes his pace really well, and he tries to think ahead of the batsman and executes well most of the time, so he has been a reliable player for us, and we hope he continues into the World Cup.”
King made progress and was dominant from early, but opening partner, Johnson Charles, faced only five balls before he was caught by Ottneil Baartman for one in the fourth over. He was the only batsman to fall during the power play, which ended with West Indies on 64 for 1.
He continued spectacularly and brought up his fastest T20I 50s from 26 balls for his sixth four in the final over of the power play from pacer Lungi Ngidi.
Kyle Mayers partnered with King, and they carried the Caribbean side to 109 for 1 at the halfway stage, but King was caught off pacer Andile Phehlukwayo in the next over.
They put on a 79-run for the second wicket taking West Indies to 115 for 3, but the rest of the batting failed and they lost seven wickets for 66 in the second half of the innings.
Phehlukwayo was the pick of the South Africa bowlers with three for 26 from his four overs, and Baartman ended with 3 for 28 from his four overs.
Forde then had Quinton de Kock caught behind for four with the second ball of the chase, Roston Chase got Ryan Rickelton stumped for six in the second over, and Shamar Joseph, trapped Matthew Breetzke lbw for 19, all inside the Power Play and had the South Africans wobbling on 46 for three.
The Proteas captain Rassie van der Dussen and Hendricks shared 42 for the fourth wicket and carried the visitors to 99 for three at the halfway stage but Motie trapped van der Dussen lbw for 17 in the next over, and only Hendricks could offer South Africa a lifeline in the closing stages
