T20 World Cup: South Africa v West Indies Preview

The Proteas and West Indies have had bad starts to their World Cup campaigns, which makes this encounter one to look out for as both teams will be desperate to register their first win of the tournament.

South Africa Form

The Proteas have been in good form going into the World Cup, winning bilateral series in West Indies, Ireland and Sri Lanka, and also winning both of their warm-up matches in Abu Dhabi.

Their score of 118-9 in 20 overs against Australia reminded the world just how disappointing the Proteas can be in ICC events. Apart from Aiden Markram’s 40 off 36 deliveries, the rest of the top seven batters failed dismally.

Contrary to their batters form, Proteas bowlers have been in superb form. Opening pair, Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje have been able to set the tone for the spin twins, Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj.

Perhaps, the missing piece of the puzzle is a fifth bowler who can be as reliable and as clinical as the four bowlers.

South Africa Motivation

The Proteas are the underdogs at this World Cup as the majority of the cricketing community do not give them much of a chance at winning the World Cup.

Temba Bavuma and his men will undoubtedly be looking to prove people wrong by winning this encounter again West Indies.

This win will mean a lot to the team and also to the head coach, Mark Boucher, who is under immense pressure after losing that opener against Australia.

South Africa Probable XI

1. Temba Bavuma

2. Quinton de Kock

3. Rassie van der Dussen

4. Aiden Markram

5. Heinrich Klaseen

6. David Miller

7. Dwaine Pretorius

8. Keshav Maharaj

9. Kagiso Rabada

10. Anrich Nortje

11. Tabraiz Shamsi

South Africa Key Players

1. Rassie van see Dussen

2. Anrich Nortje

3. Aiden Markram

West Indies Form

The Windies have lacked form recently, particularly on the batting front, which is supposed to be their strength at this World Cup considering the names in the team.

They have unfortunately carried the bad form over to their World Cup opener against England over the weekend, a match in which they were all out for 55 runs with 5.2 overs remaining.

The shot selections in that match were appalling, the reading of the game by the Windies batters was very bad and they got exposed for their errors.

West Indies Motivation

Before the Windies World Cup squad was announced, there were calls for Chris Gayle not to be included, due to lack of form in international T20 cricket.

The Universe Boss is the kind of player who stands out when masses doubt his abilities. I believe that is a big motivation for West Indies because if Gayle gets going, the team will stand a good chance to win the match.

Last but not least, the Windies are the defending Champions. They will not make it easy for any team to take away their chance at defending their title as it will be a fitting send-off for some of their senior players who might retire after this competition.

West Indies Probable XI

1. Evin Lewis

2. Andre Fletcher

3. Chris Gayle

4. Shimron Hetmyer

5. Nicholas Pooran

6. Dwaine Bravo

7. Kieron Pollard

8. Andre Russell

9. Akeil Hossein

10. Obed McCoy

11. Ravi Rampaul

West Indies Key Players

1. Chris Gayle

2. Akeil Hossein

3. Shimron Hetmyer

Last T20 World Cup Encounter

In 2016, these two nations were also in the same group. When they met in 2016, they were coming off wins from their first fixtures of that World Cup, Proteas winning against Sri Lanka while West Indies won against England.

Marlon Samuels led the Windies to a three-wicket victory with 2 balls to spare. Having failed to set a competitive score, the Proteas fought back to defend a mediocre 127 runs target and took it all the way to the last over.

Quinton de Kock top-scored in the match with his 47 off 46 deliveries which included three fours and a six.

Match Verdict

The fact that the Proteas have recently won a T20 series in the Caribbean should make them favourites, but their history of collapsing under pressure at World Cups sways the momentum over to the West Indies team. This makes it difficult to give a verdict on this encounter.

Nonetheless, my money will be on West Indies winning the match on Tuesday, 26 October. Simply because the West Indies have the characters to achieve such a result.