50 overs West Indies 335 for 8 (Hope 128*, Powell 46, Coetzee 3-57) vs South Africa
Shai Hope scored a century in his first match as West Indies ODI captain as they put on their highest score against South Africa in the format, and the second highest at Buffalo Park. As a result, they asked South Africa to complete the highest successful chase at the venue too; the best so far is 257, but that was 29 years ago, with the pace of fifty-over cricket significantly changed since.
However, it was only six weeks back that South Africa had chased down 343 against England in Bloemfontein. They are without six of the XI from that day through a combination of squad rotation, injuries and illness, and have three debut batters in the team – Ryan Rickelton, Tony de Zorzi and Tristan Stubbs – as they test their depth.
But in the bowling department, it passed on that measure. Gerald Coetzee, playing in his first ODI, was South Africa’s most successful and joint-most economical bowler, and used the short ball to take his wickets. But the others – Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen and Tabraiz Shamsi – were unable to adjust to the surface. Ngidi did not lean on his variations, Jansen was unsure of his lengths and Shamsi was expensive.
And the unavailability of Sisanda Magala, who split the webbing on his right hand, meant South Africa had only five bowlers at their disposal, which left them without options to keep West Indies quiet for sustained periods of time.
Source: www.espncricinfo.com
