South Africa’s victory in the first of the two T20’s over the West Indies was good reason to celebrate and the chosen venue was a two minute stroll down the beach from The Halcyon Cove. Tony’s Watersports, Bar & Grill is a small modest wooden building on the beach which supplies all of the above plus a pool table. The owner spent most of the evening playing ‘spot’ (a form of poker that I failed to grasp) and so if you wanted a drink, you just moved in behind the bar, helped yourself and put 10 Eastern Caribbean dollars (about R27) into the till!! How awesome is that? The experience that is, not the price!

So, having woken this morning after a good sleep but with a very expensive headache, it was breakfast, checking e-mails and ready to leave for the ground feeling refreshed and ready for the afternoon’s contest.

The match, although thrilling in the end, was a great disappointment. Dictated by a poor pitch, which is sometimes difficult for many to comprehend, South Africa never really got there innings going to the degree that they would threaten the 150 which on the previous showing would have been a good score. Only the debutant, David Miller, with able support from Johan Botha, gave any impetus to the innings and the slimmest hope of a victory. Once again the umpiring lacked confidence and so it was down to the bowlers to make use of a poor pitch which they did admirably. The West Indies lost Gayle early and as a result lost all belief in themselves as they stuttered along for the first half their innings. Suddenly, as if from nowhere, it looked as if Dwayne Bravo was going to see them home but that was not to be as two good catches were taken to dismiss both him and the other danger man, Keiron Pollard. I say good catches because we saw a couple go down but the fierce wind made high catches a bit of a lottery.

Jacques Kallis sat this one out with a slight groin strain and in doing so rubber stamped the fact that South Africa have come to rely so much on his skill in order to build a meaningful total. Many have found a way to criticise Jacques throughout his career, something that has annoyed me no end. Perhaps after watching today’s game a few may have changed their mind.

West Indies 0 South Africa 2. Very satisfactory