West Indies had won the toss and elected to field first, with the wicket just been re-laid; it probably was the better decision.

Bosman walks himself out on a wide call

Bosman and Smith opened up the batting for South Africa, and Roach was first man in the West Indies bowling attack. Bosman and Smith were off to a steady start, until Bosman (7) mistook an umpire’s decision of wide for OUT in the 3rd over and walked off, or gloved it and decided to be the better man.

Smith pulls a Homer Simpson… Doh!

The big man Kallis was next in to bat, and with the help of Smith (37), managed to get South Africa up to 88 runs after 12 overs on a very awkward batting wicket. Then on the first ball of the 13th over, Smith mistimed a reverse swing and lost balance just as the West Indies Wiki, Fletcher, took his bails off… or so he thought. A look at the replay showed that his foot was still in at the time the bails were lifted. By that time he was already at the boundary rope… Doh!

Kallis Continued

Kallis continued with his impressive stint at the crease before being caught out by Sarwan in the 16th over, after attempting a big hit into the wind which was badly miss timed. After Kallis, The wickets started to fall quickly. Duminy, Botha and de Villiers’s wickets fell in the space of 2 overs, and Petersen being run out in the next. In the end South Africa manages a Competitive score of 136/7 after 20 overs.

The 2nd Innings

West Indies brought Gayle and Fletcher to bat first, Gayle having a good first over facing the spin of van der Merwe scoring 12 runs. McLaren was given the ball on the 3rd over and dismissed a struggling Fletcher for a duck. This was just the beginning for McLaren; by the 6th over he had claimed the big wicket of Chris Gayle and continued to get three more wickets through out the 2nd innings. 5 wickets in this type of format is a great achievement! Let’s hope he can sustain this pace throughout the Tour.

Botha also bowled beautifully and was rewarded with two wickets in quick succession in the 10th over with the help of South Africa’s new man behind the stumps, AB de Villiers, who kept well and consistently through the Innings.

Steyn was playing Double Dutch with wides

In the last three overs it seemed to get really scrappy out there. Fast bowler Steyn was having a difficult time finding his line and consistently bowled wide. The umpiring was shocking as well, a clear thick edge to keeper was signalled as wide and no one really looked like they cared. McLaren took the last to wickets of Sammy and Benn in the last, securing South Africa’s victory.

South Africa win by 13 runs