South Africa edge out West Indies to enter SF of T20

North Sound: South Africa’s golden generation of white-ball cricketers took a big step towards erasing the “eternal chokers” tag by keeping their composure to enter the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup, beating a formidable West Indies by three wickets in a thrilling rain-truncated Super 8s game here.

After part-time magician and full-time wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi (3/27), along with his slow bowling colleagues Keshav Maharaj (1/24) and skipper Aiden Markram (1/28), restricted West Indies to a manageable 135 for 8, South Africa achieved the revised target of 123 with five balls to spare.

The Proteas were 15/2 in two overs when rain disrupted proceedings.

With this win, South Africa topped Group 1 followed by defending champions England as the second semifinalist from it.

Tristan Stubbs (29 off 27 balls), one of the most talked-about among young T20 batters, set up the chase in company of Heinrich Klaasen (22 off 10 balls) for the South Africans.

But it was Marco Jansen (21 not out off 14 balls), who hit a beautiful six down the ground off the first ball of the 17th over bowled by left-arm pacer Obed McCoy to seal the deal.

Equally praiseworthy was Kagiso Rabada’s copybook cover drive off Roston Chase when South Africa required 9 off 7 balls.

In a contest that was headlined by the most revered names in T20 history, two under-rated cricketers held forte.

Barbados’ Roston Chase (52 and 3/12), who year-after-year goes unsold in the IPL and Jansen, who displayed the less talked-about virtue of composure, much required in down-the-wire chases.