West Indies vs South Africa Third T20I: Best Bets & Prediction

West Indies and South Africa face off in the third and final T20I at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba, Trinidad on Tuesday. The West Indies secured the series with a seven-wicket win in the first game, followed by a 30-run victory in the second.

Venue: Brian Lara Cricket Academy

Betting Preview

After chasing 175 before the 18th over in the first match, Rovman Powell’s side remained unchanged for the second. Their bowling has dominated, taking 17 wickets compared to South Africa’s nine, with only Roston Chase wicketless. Matthew Forde, in just his third T20I series, has taken a wicket every ten balls, while Romario Shepherd shined with 3/15 on Sunday. Shamar Joseph tops the charts with five wickets at an average of 14.20, including dismissing South Africa’s openers in both games.

West Indies’ top three; Alick Athanaze, Shai Hope, and Nicholas Pooran – have all hit sixes in both games. Hope struck four on Sunday, becoming the leading run-scorer for his side, with Pooran close behind at 84 runs and a strike rate of 186.66.

South Africa, missing key players, has struggled, with only Reeza Hendricks, Tristan Stubbs, and Patrick Kruger passing 20. Ryan Rickelton and Hendricks showed some improvement on Sunday, with Hendricks scoring 44 off 18 balls, his highest in 13 T20I innings.

Captain Aiden Markram’s nine-ball stay on Sunday saw a strike rate over 200 for the first time in 25 innings. He may rethink bowling in the powerplay after conceding 36 runs in two overs, with Shai Hope hitting five boundaries.

Markram made one change, bringing in Lizaad Williams for Nandre Burger, who was hit for four consecutive sixes by Pooran. Williams impressed with 3/36, making him a likely pick as South Africa seeks their first T20I series win in the Caribbean since July 2021.

The West Indies carried their momentum from a first T20I win into the second, securing a 2-0 lead in the series. They’ve outplayed the visitors and will look to maintain their dominance. Back the home side to win at 1.58.

Players to Watch: With 92 runs in the series at a strike rate of 158.62, Shai Hope has continued his marked improvement in T20Is since returning to the team in August 2023. Prior to that, he was averaging 17.88 at a strike rate of 121.11 but, his subsequent 14 innings have yielded 404 runs (ave. 36.72, s/r 149.62).

Tristan Stubbs is the leading run-scorer (104) and boundary hitter (13 – 9x fours, 4x sixes) across both sides in the series and has found plenty of consistency across his last 13 T20I innings which have brought only one single-figure score. This is a big improvement on his opening ten innings in this format which saw half bring at most eight runs.

Prediction: West Indies to win at 1.58.

Key Stats

West Indies have won the six-count 13/7 in both matches of the series so far.

Reeza Hendricks needs ten runs to become only the third South African to bring up 2000 T20I runs.

Ottneil Baartman bowled the most or joint-most wides in both games of the series.

Sunday’s match was the first time in six T20Is the team batting first had won in Tarouba.

Donovan Ferreira is yet to be dismissed by a seam bowler in T20Is. 

Nicholas Pooran has hit an average of 2+ sixes across his last 15 T20Is.

Four of Reeza Hendricks’ six highest T20I strike rates have come against the West Indies.

Best Bets

Best Bet: Reeza Hendricks to score over 21.5 runs at 1.90.

Value Bet: Shai Hope to score 50+ runs at 4.00.

BET Contributor

Tims is a CSA accreditated freelance cricket writer who also does cricket commentary for Guerilla Cricket SA and founder of the Full Quota Podcast.