PROTEAS POWER - Markram hits fifty as South Africa crushes Windies by 8 wickets

The Proteas overcame off-field drama as Quinton de Kock stunningly withdrew from the match, refusing to adhere to Cricket South Africa’s order that the entire team take the knee before every game of the event to support the ‘Black Lives Matter’ campaign.

South Africa weathered Evin Lewis’ (56 off 35 balls, 3 fours, 6 sixes) initial onslaught to restrict West Indies to 143 for eight. It then rode on solid batting displays from Markram (51 not out off 26 balls, 2 fours, 4 sixes), Rassie van der Dussen (43 not out off 51 balls, 3 fours) and Reeza Hendricks (39 off 30 balls, 4 fours, 1 six) to comfortably chase down the target with 10 balls to spare.

Contrary to the end result, South Africa did not have the best of starts to its chase, losing skipper Temba Bavuma early to a run out. But Hendricks, who replaced de Kock, and van der Dussen then stabilised the innings with a 57-run second wicket stand.

After Hendricks’ dismissal, van der Dussen and Markram carried South Africa forward to bring down the equation to 44 off the last six overs. While van der Dussen held one end up, Markram played an explosive knock to take South Africa home.

Earlier, Lewis smashed a quick-fire half-century before West Indies lost the plot to manage a modest score. Lewis and Lendl Simmons (16 off 35 balls), who was poor on the day, put on 73 off 63 balls for the opening stand before West Indies lost wickets at regular intervals. Lewis did the bulk of the scoring in the partnership.

Dwaine Pretorius (3/17) and left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj (2/24) were the chief contributors for South Africa, while Anrich Nortje (1/14) picked up the man of the match award for his economical spell.

BRIEF SCORES: West Indies 143/8 in 20 overs (E Lewis 56, D Pretorius 3/17) lost to South Africa 144/2 in 18.2 overs (A Markram 51*, R van der Dussen 43*)