Semi-final 1: West Indies vs South Africa
at The Oval
Code:
[b]West Indies South Africa[/b]
XM Marshall GC Smith (c)
MN Samuels LL Bosman
RR Sarwan (c) HH Gibbs
S Chanderpaul JH Kallis
DJ Bravo AB de Villiers
KA Pollard JP Duminy
SE Findlay MV Boucher (wk)
D Ramdin (wk) JA Morkel
SJ Benn J Botha
JE Taylor M Morkel
DBL Powell DW Steyn
Having the semi-final at The Oval hardly helped, as another dodgy wicket resulted in a substandard match. Barely 16 overs were completed, and despite the 38-run stand between Boucher and Morkel, an injury-hit West Indies made it into the final.
The top order batting was disgraceful, even accounting for a spitting wicket due to yesterday's torrential rain. Smith was caught behind early, but Herschelle Gibbs' attempted reverse off Gibbs was ridiculous, as were the strokes by Bosman and Kallis off Sulieman Benn, possibly the most consistent spinner at this tournament. With de Villiers and Duminy both caught in the slips, South Africa were 27 for six, and a familiar scenario played out.
A tired Bravo asked to be relieved of some bowling duties, and Pollard took over the bowling duties. He allowed Albie Morkel and boucher to get away with some lovely strikes, but again Benncame to the rescue, bowling Morkel with the even straighter one. A collective brain collapse followed, and South Africa lost four wickets for no response, crashing to 65.
West Indies smashed out, with a four and a six from Xavier Marshall the first two balls. The third was missed, the fourth was nicked behind, and Sarwan tucked bat and pad together and was caught off the fifth - game on. Samuels, injury replacement for Fletcher, got strike in the next over, and after hitting Morkel for six he too perished - followed by Bravo and Pollard in Morkel's next over.
Before that, however, Chanderpaul had taken the younger Morkel to pieces. Two sixes and two fours boosted the total to 20 for the player, unfairly lambasted for his lack of Twenty20 skills, and cut the target to well within managable levels. The only thing that remained was to keep wickets intact - thus, Smith brought on his least wicket-taking threat, Kallis, in the sixth over, and he was duly milked for ten runs by Chanderpaul to secure the victory.
South Africa 65 all out (10)
MV Boucher 22; SJ Benn 4/15, DBL Powell 3/11, KA Pollard 2/20
West Indies 67 for five (6)
S Chanderpaul 36*, XM Marshall 10; JA Morkel 3/18, DW Steyn 2/10
West Indies won by five wickets
Man of the Match: S. J. Benn (WI)