Dewald Brevis’ impressive return of three wickets for six runs and Liam Alder’s exploits with bat and ball were the highlights for South Africa under-19s as they dismissed the West Indies under-19s for 106 before clinching a dramatic one-wicket win in their third Youth One-Day International (YODI) on Thursday.

The SA U19s now take a 2-1 lead in the four-match series hosted in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines islands in the Caribbean, as part of the side’s build-up to the ICC Men’s U19 Cricket World Cup taking place in the West Indies between 14 January – 05 February 2022.

After losing the toss, South Africa were asked to bowl first at the Cumberland Playing Field, where challenging batting conditions prevailed, leading to a low-scoring thriller.

The home side made a solid start with the bat, featuring contributions from Shaqkere Parris (27) and Teddy Bishop (26) before all-rounder Hardus Coetzer (3 / 25) struck three crucial blows into the West Indies top-order to leave them on 51 / 4 after 13 overs.

Although Bishop and Giovante Depeiza (22) stuck around and added 46 runs for the fifth wicket, Alder (2 / 23) and Asakhe Tsaka (2 / 23) combined to great effect and picked up important middle-order scalps before Brevis took centre stage.

The leg-spinner bamboozled the West Indies tail, claiming three wickets, and removing batters for a duck, one run and a first-ball duck respectively, to restrict the hosts to 106 all out in 38.3 overs.

In their chase, the SA U19s went about their business in quick fashion and despite losing Jade Smith (0) early on, Ethan Cunningham (25) led the charge from the top of the order, scoring three fours and a six alongside Valentine Kitime (13) to help the away side to 50 / 3 in the eighth over.

Despite a fightback for the West Indies, spearheaded by Onaje Amory (4 / 8), South Africa withstood the pressure and through Alder’s unbeaten and explosive 24* off 12 balls, the SA U19s got over the line with more than 31 overs to spare.

The fourth and final encounter takes place at the Arnos Vale Sports Complex in St Vincent on Monday, 03 January with South Africa looking to seal the series.