South Africa clinch the competitive T20I series 3-2 and will leave the Caribbean with both the pieces of silverware. This is the first T20I series win in the past six series with Mark Boucher and Temba Bavuma's first in charge.
The bowlers in the green and yellow came to the fore once more and held their nerve to help the Proteas defeat the reigning World Champions and that too on their home soil. This would act as a huge confidence booster and hopefully they can build on it.
To our surprise, this series was way more competitive and like for like than we could've imagined especially after the statement by the Windies big hitters in the series opener.
South Africa will leave the Caribbean and head to Ireland relieved that they're back to winning ways but there's still many unanswered questions ahead of the T20 World Cup slated in October this year. Their batting line up is a major concern. Out of five games on this tour, they've struggled to capitalize on the starts with poor returns in the middle to death overs.
They've kept more or less the same XI throughout and although that's good for consistency and they've got the results, this is the perfect time to test the waters and get the combinations right for the ICC event especially as the team balance seems a bit off at the moment.
Quinton De Kock has been carrying the batting for his side and it's great to see him back to his best after being relieved from captaincy duties. He was the top scorer in both the Tests and T20Is. He was phenomenal at the top and got the visitors off to brilliant starts. His intent and positivity was shown without being overly reckless.
The bowlers put in a collective effort to help defend 160-odd in three games but it was the Player of the Series, Tabraiz Shamsi with his economical and impactful bowling in the middle overs helped keep this star-studded batting quiet in the middle overs with too much to do at the back end.
“This win can only boost our confidence as a team, we have not won many series away from home. We believe that we can adapt to any conditions,” Bavuma said.
West Indies may have lost but they've tried and tested different combinations and with plenty more limited overs series ahead for them, they'll be hoping to get their team firing together with the T20 World Cup looming around. There's not much they're doing wrong with respect to team selections. It's just a matter of working out how to negotiate the middle overs period where they've evidently struggled with spin.
Fabian Allen's big hits were missed in the decider as he's shown throughout the series how lethal and ruthless he can be with the bat. That's a good sign for the Windies as he's done his job well with the ball too. Left arm pacer, Obed McCoy has been a positive that the Windies can take from this series. His slower balls were absolute magic and players struggled while playing them.
