South Africa beat West Indies by seven wickets
NEW DELHI: South Africa defeated West Indies by seven wickets at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in New Delhi on Thursday. The South African innings appeared to have been given a forceful start, before keeper Devon Thomas took a spectacular catch to dismiss HashimAmla for 14 off 14. South Africa was 15/1 when Jacques Kallis came to the crease. But no sooner had the batsman settled in than he was unsettled by a ripper from off-spinner Suleiman Benn who had him caught at slip for 4. It appeared for an instant that the Windies had wrested back control of the match at 20/2 in 5 overs.
South Africa’s batsmen built upon the good work of their bowlers as Imran Tahir had a debut to remember, picking up four wickets and striking at crucial moments to peg West Indies back on a pitch that displayed none of the demons that led to the abandonment of the last international game at this ground in December 2009.
South African bowling unit kept a lid on a combustible West Indies, the spinners bowling a combined 29 overs for just 138 runs as West Indies imploded to be all out for 222 when, at one stage, 270 had seemed more likely. After the spinners had kept South Africa in control for much of the game, Dale Steyn returned at the death to ensure there would be no late fightback.
South Africa made 223 runs for 3 (de Villiers 107, Smith 45 and Pollard 1-37), West Indies made 222 runs (Bravo 73 Tahir 4-41 Botha 2-48) and loss the match by seven wickets.
