Temba Bavuma’s lone-man show was in vain as the Proteas fell short by 48 runs in the second ODI in East London.

A captain’s day indeed as both the Windies and Proteas skippers went on and scored centuries.

Another brittle batting display by the men in green, with way too many soft dismissals.

Apart from the brilliant start by the openers, it was a sorry-looking scorecard with the lack of experience in the line-up. Rassie van der Dussen was demoted to 5 and it didn’t work either as he only managed a single-digit score. Yet again another middle-order collapse as they lost 6 wickets for 54 runs.

“The pitch was a bit slow and difficult to score. I feel good about it and it’s a good score,” Shai Hope said at the innings break after he was the main reason his side got to 335 in their 50-over allotment with his knock and vital contributions from Powell (46) as well as King, Pooran and Mayers who all chipped in with 30s, helping the visitors post their highest One Day total against South Africa.

West Indies got off to a circumspect start after 5 overs having scored 26 runs for the loss of no wicket, as the regular opening batter, Shai Hope on his captaincy debut, demoted himself to come in at number four.

Ngidi and Jansen shared the new cherry with the latter leaking runs which saw the WI race along to 48-0 after 7 overs.

Bjorn Fortuin was introduced into the attack in the 9th over and struck off his third ball to get the breakthrough SA needed. Then, out of the four debutants, Gerald Coetzee redeemed himself after his first over went for 18 runs, to get his maiden wicket to reduce West Indies to 71-2 after 10 overs.

Fortuin again struck a lusty blow to remove the ever-aggressive Brandon King with a stunning yorker as the visitors collapsed from 67-0 to 71-3.

Shai Hope and Nicholas Pooran steadied the ship. They batted sensibly and with intent, to get the Windies to 138-3 at the end of 20 overs.

Pooran eventually attempted a pull shot off Coetzee and could only manage to guide it to Rassie van der Dussen at mid-wicket for 39 as the 86-run stand for the fourth wicket was broken and the WI were 157-4 inside 24 overs.

Hope and Powell continued to bat with authority and intent as they batted brilliantly in an 80-run partnership for the fifth wicket as WI were 211-4 after 35 overs. Powell batted cautiously and occasionally took on the bowlers when fed a bad ball, he went back-to-back off Ngidi as he flat-batted slapped the ball over the bowler’s head and then another over the shorter boundary.

A bit of ill-disciplined bowling by the home side as they struggled to find their lengths and were inconsistent. West Indies, however, took the bait and put those deliveries away. Powell was tested in the field as SA tried to stop the singles and force him to play out. Coetzee got Powell to chop on for 46 as he got his third.

With 10 overs to go in their innings, the men in maroon were well set for a big finish on 242-5. After their initial slump of wickets, they would’ve been more than pleased with anything ranging from 280 to 300 but Hope led from the front as he finished on 128 not out which included 5 fours and 6 sixes to get his side to 335-8 in 50 overs.

The Proteas conceded 97 runs in the last 10 overs with 47 of those coming in the final 5 overs.

Quinton de Kock was in ominous form as he got the Proteas off to a flying start in their run-chase of 336, alongside Temba Bavuma who had the best seat in the house at the time. SA raced along to 50-0 at the end of 6 overs.

It was pretty neck and neck with where the Windies were at the same stage. Golden arm Mayers struck to remove De Kock for 48 from 26 balls to break the 76-run opening stand. SA were 78-1 at the end of the 10-over mark.

The skipper consolidated with debutant Ryan Rickelton at the other end in a 47-run stand to get the home side to 112-1 inside 15 overs before Rickleton was dismissed for 14 as the ball-tracker showed upon review that it would’ve crashed into the middle stump. At 123-2, another debutant Tony de Zorzi came to the crease.

Akeal Hosein provided the breakthrough Windies needed as he bowled De Zorzi for 27 and then a bouncer by Alzarri Joseph got Rassie van der Dussen to hold out in the deep for 8.

SA found themselves four down before Odean Smith struck a huge blow as the last recognised batter was now at the crease with the tail to come. A slow-ish ball and Stubbs top-edged and skied it to depart for 6 as the men in green slipped to 210-5 after 29.5 overs and required a further 126 runs.

Temba Bavuma became the second fastest South African batter to reach 1000 ODI runs in just 23 innings with an average of 50. Only Quinton de Kock and Rassie Van der Dussen (21 innings) have reached the milestone quicker than him.

He continued his excellent form and notched up his fourth ODI ton from 94 balls which included 10 fours and 3 sixes. The skipper played a controlled and sensible knock with wickets tumbling around him as he edged his side closer to the required total.

SA slipped to 238-8 as the skipper continued to play a series of handsome shots and was well supported by Ngidi in a 9th-wicket stand worth 49 runs.

Bavuma entertained the crowd in East London as he got to his highest total in One-Day internationals before Joseph removed all hopes of a victory for the South African fans as he had Bavuma caught behind for a stupendous 144 off 118 balls.

“Lungi and I just told each other that you never know what can happen… If we had restricted them to around 300 considering we had got early wickets. There is nowhere else to learn… this is a valuable experience. This is all about learning. We kept believing, and taking it ball by ball,” Bavuma said at the post-match presentation.