Image courtesy of: The News
Pollard was heart-broken to find out that his wicket had cost the West Indies a spot in the semi-finals
West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard will never forget this match for the rest of his life as his wicket off the last ball before the rain fell helped South Africa secure themselves a semi-final spot, while the men from the Caribbean fell agonisingly short of advancing to the next stage.
West Indies skipper Dwayne Bravo won the toss and decided to bowl first on a drizzly, grey day at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff.
With the match being reduced to 31 overs due to the persistent rain, the South African batsmen did not hesitate to chance their arms whenever possible.
South Africa opening batsman Colin Ingram played one of his better innings in the tournament, making 73 runs off 63 balls, which included six boundaries and two sixes, to propel the Proteas to an outstanding score of 230, which came at 7.41 runs per over.
South Africa captain AB de Villiers, 37 runs, Faf du Plessis, 35 runs, and David Miller, 38 runs, also played a crucial role in helping South Africa achieve their total.
Bravo was the pick of the West Indian bowlers with two wickets, while Ravi Rampaul, Marlon Samuels and Pollard picked up one wicket apiece.
During the innings interval, the rain came down again, leaving those in attendance frustrated and edgy as the match was further reduced to 26 overs.
This meant that the West Indies needed 191 runs to win in order to qualify for the semi-finals.
However, this was never going to be an easy target, especially with a healthy Dale Steyn back in the South African side.
West Indies flamboyant opener Chris Gayle made a quickfire 36 before being dismissed by Chris Morris.
Dwayne Smith, who came in for the out-of-form Ramnaresh Sarwan, also got into the thirties before being dismissed.
All-rounder Samuels was the hero of the West Indian batting line-up, scoring 48 runs off 38 balls to give the men from the Caribbean a boost in the right direction.
However, as the storm clouds gathered overhead, the West Indies’ chase became more frantic and they started to lose wickets at regular intervals.
Pollard put a stop to this with a brilliant 28, but as soon as he was back in the pavilion, the heavens parted and the umpires decided to stop the match, leaving the West Indies tied with South Africa, but behind them on the net run rate table.
Pollard looked absolutely sick as it was announced that South Africa were through to the semi-finals, while the West Indies would be getting on the next plane back home.
Steyn came back with a vengeance during this match, snapping up two wickets, while Morris, Robin Peterson and Ryan McLaren took one wicket each.
Bravo was utterly disappointed to have come so close to reaching the semi-finals, only to have it taken away from him on the last ball of the match.
“Obviously disappointed,” he said. “But congrats South Africa for making it to the playoff. Both teams deserve a pat on the shoulder. We were hoping we could get back to the field. Umpires have a job to do, they did it to the best of their ability. We need to give credit to my team as well. They batted well in chase. Congrats to SA, but well done West Indies for the fight. We did our best. We were aware of the weather. It is difficult to judge when rain will come. When we thought rain would come, we stepped it up. We played hard today. The way we played we deserved to finish with a better result, but it is out of our control.”
De Villiers was obviously relieved to have survived and made it through to the next round.
“We have been on the losing side of things like this,” he said. “I feel bad for West Indies, this is part of the game. It was in the back of mind. Luckily the par score was on the scoreboard all the time. We were aware of it. It was difficult. The ball was getting wet. We needed to be calm, and we were. We played really good cricket most of the time today. We batted well, but we were aware West Indies have strong batting. Dale looked really good today, bowling with a lot of heat. And just glad he held on to that catch in the end.”
Ingram easily edged out everyone for the Man of the Match award.
“If you are in the top three, you should be able to open,” he said. “Just a little bit more nervous when opening. With Hash there, it is calm. It went around a bit. We were expecting it to move a little. In general it was a good wicket all day. Enjoying. Ad a young player, I started as an opener. Enjoying my time with Hash at the top.”