Shai Hope lauded important partnerships from batters in West Indies’ ODI win vs South Africa. Hope, on his ODI captaincy debut, hit a century.
By India Today Sports Desk: West Indies took a 1-0 lead against South Africa in their ongoing ODI series, winning the second ODI match by a comfortable margin of 48 runs on Saturday, 19 March. On his ODI captaincy debut, West Indies captain Shai Hope hit a century to lead the charge for the visiting side. Hope credited his batters for the win and lauded the partnerships made through the innings.
“Credit must go to the batting partners to make it easy for me. Brilliant start to the series,” Hope said in the post-match press conference. Windies posted a big total of 335 runs, and then had to weather the storm of Temba Bavuma century in the second innings of the game. South Africa started brightly in the second innings of the match and were on target even till the 25th over of the match. From 184/3, South Africa folded at 287 runs by the 42nd over of the match.
Hope credited South Africa captain Temba Bavuma for his century and said that good fielding won West Indies the game.
“Temba played a brilliant innings, but catches win matches. We put ourselves under pressure… It was important for us to focus on what was ahead of us. I thought it was a difficult to start on. Once you get in, you’ve got to go big. You have to play the situation,” Hope added.
Shai Hope made 128 not out in his first game as West Indies ODI captain. Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma replied with a century of his own in the second ODI at Buffalo Park but his 144 from 118 balls wasn’t enough as the other South African batters failed around him.
South Africa appeared on course to challenge the big total at 184-2 in the 25th over. Left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein then turned the game in West Indies’ favor. He removed Tony de Zorzi for 27 to start South Africa’s slide, claimed another two wickets and created a run out, as West Indies took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Hosein finished with 3-59 and West Indies took eight wickets for just 103 runs to finish off South Africa after its bright start.
