In the third and final one-day international on Tuesday at Senwes Park, South Africa defeated West Indies by four wickets thanks in large part to a brilliant unbeaten century from Heinrich Klaasen.
The victory in the last ODI ensured South Africa shared the honours after the first game was a washout and West Indies won the second game.
After winning the toss, South Africa decided to bowl, limiting the visitors to 260 all out.
At 87-4 early in their reply, the Proteas were in trouble. However, Klaasen’s explosive hitting (119 not out off 61) saw them coast to win with an astounding 123 balls left in the innings.
At the post-game presentation, Klaasen remarked, “It is one of my better knocks and it’s a really excellent wicket. “We tried to play to the circumstances, not the circumstance,” said Alzarri (Joseph), “but early on I had to fight fire with fire against some good bouncers.” But, the circumstances limit how aggressive you can be, so it’s amazing when the team crosses the finish line.
Due to a hamstring injury, the host team was without their star captain Temba Bavuma and rested Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada, and Anrich Nortje.
Opening batsman Brandon King led the West Indies innings with a run-a-ball score of 72, but only Nicholas Pooran (39) and Jason Holder (36) made additional notable contributions to an otherwise lacklustre performance.
The visitors made some erratic shots because they were determined to assault every ball; with more patience and focus, they might have posted a target higher than 300.
Nevertheless, South Africa’s own innings got off to a shaky start as they lost four wickets in just 13 overs.
But after that, Klaasen had his moment to shine. Before becoming the third victim of the greatest of the West Indies bowlers, Joseph, he first put on 55 with David Miller (17), and then added 103 for the sixth wicket with all-rounder Marco Jansen, who hit a career-best 43 off 33 balls (3-50).
South Africa avenged their 48-run loss in the second ODI on Saturday because to Klaasen, who completed his second ODI century in 54 balls. Rain forced the cancellation of the first game before a ball was bowled.
Shai Hope, the captain of the West Indies, stated that “they outplayed us today.” We only have ourselves to blame, in my opinion. “I thought we batted effectively in portions, but were not good enough with the ball today. You cannot give up 260+ in 29 overs.
