Shepherd blitzkrieg helps Windies take third T20 and series against Proteas

Romario Shepherd's 26-run blitzkrieg against Kagiso Rabada in the last over of the West Indies’ innings proved the difference in another pulsating T20 international, with the touring side’s seven-run win earning them a 2-1 series triumph.

Shepherd, who represented the Joburg Super Kings in the SA20, struck three sixes off the Proteas’ champion bowler to propel the West Indies to 220/8 at the Wanderers, a total that had seemed unlikely during the middle period of their innings. He finished on 44 not out.

His assault started after being dropped off the first ball of that over by Heinrich Klaasen — the ball hanging in the air for an age before falling with Klaasen never positioning himself properly underneath it.

Shepherd then went six, four, six, six as Rabada, like all the South African bowlers, battled to settle into a consistent line or length.

It left the Proteas, who’d chased a world record 259 on Sunday at Centurion, with more than they could handle with the bat.

Reeza Hendricks’s excellent form of the last year continued as he notched up a sixth half-century in his last eight T20 innings.

It wasn’t an innings packed with the sweetly timed strokes for which he is known, with Hendricks making greater use of strength. However, even in that there is an indication of how his game has matured.

Previously he’d have got frustrated at his failure to hit pretty strokes. On Tuesday, he stuck at it providing the anchor the Proteas innings needed.

He finished with 83 off 44 balls, hitting 11 fours and two sixes, but the problem was that apart from Rilee Rossouw, who made 42 off 21 balls — sharing a partnership of 80 for the second wicket — there was no other support for Hendricks.

The West Indies bowling was better than the hosts', as their seamers stuck consistently to a strategy centred on pitching the ball full and cramping the batters for room, only using the wide full toss for variety and then mainly when trying to force the batters to hit to the long boundary.

Alzarri Joseph impressed again, claiming a first five-wicket haul in T20Is, finishing with 5/40 as his side restricted the Proteas to 213/6.

The Proteas’ bowling was poor, lacking consistency as the search for variety to unsettle the batters saw their own control wane.

The early errors helped the West Indies set off at a rate of 10 runs an over, but back-to-back wickets from Rabada, which included bowling Sunday’s centurion, Johnson Charles, off the inside edge first ball, pegged the visitors back.

Rabada had shown that targeting the stumps was a viable option, but too often the Proteas became fixated with protecting the short boundary to the eastern side of the ground. So there were short balls attempting to force the batters to hit to one side and there were wide full balls which attempted the same.

But had they targeted the stumps more there's a good chance they would have been off the field before Shepherd got stuck into Rabada at the end.

Nicholas Pooran was the best of the West Indies front-line batters, hitting 41 off 19 balls, including three sixes in one over against the left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin.

The West Indies simply kept swinging, getting a few useful contributions, but the loss of wickets regularly should have seen them bowled out.

Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortjé took two wickets apiece but only the latter did so while conceding less than 10 runs an over. Ngidi had a poor night, while Rabada’s final over undid all the good work he’d done earlier.

The Proteas' focus now switches to the one-day format and the two critical matches against the Netherlands this week. By winning both of those they will earn an automatic qualifying berth for the 50-over World Cup later this year.

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