A magnificent unbroken third-wicket stand of 120 by Herschelle Gibbs and Justin Kemp took South Africa to a thrilling eight-wicket victory over the West Indies in the opening match of the Twenty20 World Championship at the Wanderers on Tuesday night, after West Indies opener Chris Gayle became the first person to score a T20 century.
The capacity crowd that packed the Wanderers got everything it could have asked for — a flurry of sixes and fours, some nervous moments and the victory the home supporters so badly wanted.
Graeme Smith won the toss and sent the West Indies in to bat. Gayle had the crowd baying with excitement as he hammered sixes to all parts of the field. His 50 came off 26 balls, and his century off 50. South Africa’s top bowlers, Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini, both took some punishment and the normally parsimonious Pollock ended with figures of one for 52 off his four overs.
Gayle and Devon Smith had a first-wicket partnership of 145 before Vernon Philander achieved a breakthrough with Smith caught by Mark Boucher for 35. Pollock took the wicket of Marlon Samuels for six in the next over, with an outstanding boundary catch by AB de Villiers, but Gayle continued to wreak havoc until he skied a ball from Johan van der Wath and Boucher ran round to take the catch at shallow fine leg.
Gayle made 117 — the highest score in international T20 cricket. He faced 57 balls and hit seven fours and 10 sixes — the highest number of sixes so far.
With Gayle gone, the West Indies lost some of their momentum, as well as three more wickets, and ended with a total of 205 for six.
South Africa needed to score at more than 10 runs an over and the crowd was fairly quiet for the first few overs, when this target seemed unachievable, but Graeme Smith and Gibbs soon had them cheering every run. Smith was looking good until he was caught by Gayle off Ravi Rampaul for 28.
Fidel Edwards, who bowled superbly, claimed the second wicket with his first delivery when De Villiers was caught by Denesh Ramdin for 16. Kemp joined Gibbs at the crease with the score on 88, and they went on a run spree.
Their 50 partnership came up off 34 balls and their 100 partnership off 55. Gibbs ended not out on 90 off 55 balls, having hit 14 fours and two sixes. Kemp was not out on 46, including five fours and two sixes.
Fittingly, it was Gibbs, who batted for much of his innings with De Villiers as a runner, who hit the winning runs in the 18th over.
Of the West Indian bowlers, Dwayne Smith would probably like to forget the match ever took place — his first over went for 20 runs and his second for 17. Edwards was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with figures of one for 21 off three overs.
South Africa play Bangladesh in their second group-A match at Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday evening. Based on their performance on Tuesday, they should not have too much trouble. — Sapa