South Africa managed to fight back with the ball to level the series at 1-1 with a 16-run win against the West Indies in the 2nd T20I.

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South Africa have bowled their way to a solid comeback win in the 2nd T20I. It may have first appeared like they’d have their backs against a wall, but an excellent effort from the spin duo of George Linde and Tabraiz Shamsi propelled them ahead.

Evin Lewis got off to a positive start, but his innings was cut short at 21 when he was bowled by a pacy length ball from Anrich Nortje. This would begin to open the floodgates, and the big wicket of Chris Gayle in the very next over brought the Proteas back into the equation.

Over the course of the middle overs, Linde and Shamsi were able to extract an impactful amount of turn and bounce on this surface. They successfully stifled the Windies’ middle order muscle of Nicholas Pooran, skipper Kieron Pollard, and Andre Russell, all of whom departed for single digit scores.

Andre Fletcher batted through most of the innings, but found it difficult to score boundaries and rotate strike. He put on 34 runs with Jason Holder, but both their wickets all but ensured that South Africa would be en route to a convincing victory.

Towards the end, Fabian Allen made the situation more tense, as he attacked Kagiso Rabada in his final over and hit three sixes off Ngidi’s final over. Fortunately for the Proteas, this was too little too late, and they held on to a 16-run advantage. With three games left, the series is still wide open.

SA 166/7 in 20 overs
WI 150/9 in 20 overs (Fletcher 35, Allen 34 – Rabada 4-0-37-3, Linde 4-0-19-2, Shamsi 4-0-16-1)

Photo: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix