It was another scrappy pitch at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, with the ball hardly bouncing above knee length. The wicket wasn’t really conducive for T20 cricket but after a one-sided first game, the nailbiting finish in the second one came as a welcome change.

Once again, since the match was scheduled for early afternoon, the ground had only a handful of spectators, but those who did turn up weren’t disappointed, as the home team put up a fighting show falling short by a whisker.

West Indies won the toss and opted to field on the slow pitch and Chris Gayle’s decision seemed to be the right one as the West Indies bowlers restricted the Proteas to a modest 120 for 7 in their 20 overs.

South Africa struggled on a pitch of uneven bounce against steady bowling and its batsmen never came to terms with the conditions.

As he did in the first match, opening batsman Loots Bosman fell for 0 to a tumbling catch by wicketkeeper Fletcher off Jerome Taylor in the first over and, without the leading batsman Jacques Kallis, out with a minor injury, South Africa could find no momentum in their innings.

It was a sixth-wicket partnership of 57 from 7.5 overs between David Miller and Botha which boosted the South African innings and took them past 100.

Miller, a 20-year-old left-hander making his international debut, topscored for South Africa, with 33 off 26 balls with two sixes before he was run out off the last ball of the innings. Johan Botha scored 23 off 22 balls, hitting two consecutive sixes off fast bowler Kemar Roach in the 19th over.

Taylor was the pick of the West Indies bowlers, claiming 3-14 from his four overs. Sammy took 2-16 from his four.

Chasing 121 to win, West Indies got off to the worst possible start, with their skipper Chris Gayle falling leg before wicket to Dale Steyn without scoring in the first over.

Gayle’s opening partner Andre Fletcher followed for 4 and it took a careful partnership of 68 off 11.5 overs between Dwayne Bravo and experienced left-hander Shivnarine Chanderpaul to steady the innings. But the slow scoring rate took the required run-rate up and led to a cluster of wickets to deep-field catches as West Indies went for boundaries to boost the scoring rate.

Bravo lofted a catch to Johan Botha off Morne Morkel for 40 from 42 balls. Off-spinner Botha, later named player of the match for his bowling and his run-a-ball 23 in the South Africa innings, removed Chanderpaul for 29, Kieron Pollard for 29 and Ramnaesh Sarwan for 6.

It seemed all but over when Pollard fell and West Indies were 99-6, still needing 22 runs off the last 9 balls. But some frantic running between the wickets by Darren Sammy and nervous fielding by the South Africans gave West Indies a sniff of victory and brought a crowd of around 4,000 to the edge of their seats.

The target proved just too much in the end, however, and West Indies could manage only two singles off the last two balls of the innings from Ryan McLaren when it needed four to win.

With this win, South Africa won the two match series 2-0 after having won the opening T20 match by 13 runs.

The two teams will now play a five-match ODI series starting Saturday at the same venue.

Match Summary:

South Africa 120 for 7 (Miller 33, Taylor 3-14) beat West Indies 119 for 7 (Bravo 40, Botha 3-22) by 1 run

Man of the Match: Johan Botha

Both Taylor and Sarwan have been out of the team since the Test series in Australia late last year. Taylor suffered a hip injury during the first match in Brisbane, and Sarwan has struggled with a back problem since the end of the series and wasn’t risked against Zimbabwe last month.

Clyde Butts, the chairman of selectors, said that he was confident of a strong showing from the team which is now coached by Ottis Gibson.

“We have Chris Gayle at the top of the order and he can be a match-winner,” he said. “It is also good to have our experienced players in the middle-order – Shiv Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan – and this gives us strength in the batting. Wavell Hinds has been recalled and he brings a wealth of experience. He is a knowledgeable cricketer and we believe can make a good contribution in the middle order as well.”

“Dwayne Bravo is one of the leading all-rounders in world cricket and he is the key man with bat and ball. We are happy to have Jerome Taylor back in the bowling department and this is a big plus. I also believe Sulieman Benn will play a major role with the ball. Overall, we have a balanced side with good all-round strength. We are confident our players will deliver on the home stage. If we play as a unit we have a very good chance of winning the [World Twenty20]. The strength is in the all-round ability of the team,” he added.

Squad: Chris Gayle (capt), Sulieman Benn, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Andre Fletcher, Wavell Hinds, Nikita Miller, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Darren Sammy, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Jerome Taylor

Sydney:

The 25-year-old speedster is confident that his team is ready to take on the Aussies even though they leaked 617 runs in the warmup match against Queensland.

“Australia have a lot of firepower, but they are looking like they are beatable. We are conditioned in our minds to go out and put up a good fight and to take it to the Australians,” The Herald Sun quoted Taylor as saying. “If we’re the underdogs, we’re not expected to win, but we will be going out there to put up a big show.”

He further highlighted that Windies fast bowlers have the advantage of having a bowler-friendly pitch like the Gabba, which is the venue for the first Test, and their attack is capable of taking 20 wickets.

“I can’t wait to get on the deck. As a fast bowler, that’s my thing, that’s my job and I want to get into action. If there is any life in the wicket, it’s a plus for us because back home in the Caribbean, we are accustomed to very flat and low wickets,” Taylor said.

Taylor also lauded West Indies skipper Chris Gayle’s batting in the second innings of the practice match against Queensland. “He is a great player for us and should we have lost him for this Test, it would have been a great loss. For me it’s great because we are both from Jamaica and I work with him a lot and he is a boost to the players,” Taylor said.

The 30-year-old Jamaican was appointed on Monday after he and other leading players had withdrawn from a home series against Bangladesh in July and the Champions Trophy in September due to a long-standing contract conflict with the West Indies Cricket Board forcing the WICB to field a second string squad against Bangladesh at home and the Champions Trophy.

Only four players that made themselves available during the strike action – allrounder Darren Sammy, batsman Travis Dowlin and fast bowlers Kemar Roach and Gavin Tonge – were selected to tour Australia from November 18.

Gayle, who has played 82 tests, will open the batting with 19-year-old Adrian Barath, the only player in the squad without international experience. Barath, from Trinidad & Tobago, had been chosen in a 13-man squad for the test series against Bangladesh before the dispute between WICB and the West Indies Players’ Association.

Jerome Taylor returns to lead the pace attack, and will be aided by Ravi Rampaul, Roach and Tonge. Taylor’s usual new ball partner, Fidel Edwards, will be missing the series after injuring his knee while playing for Deccan Chargers during last month’s Champions League in India.

Shivnarine Chanerpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan and allrounder Dwayne Bravo are also back from the strike. Australian-born Brendan Nash will return home for the first time as a West Indies player since making his debut 18 months ago.

Squad: Chris Gayle (captain), Adrian Barath, Sulieman Benn, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Travis Dowlin, Brendan Nash, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Darren Sammy, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Jerome Taylor, Gavin Tonge.

Needing 11 runs off the last over after the target was revised to 159 from 22 overs, Dhoni (46 not out) sent Jerome Taylor’s second delivery for a six over mid-wicket as India won with a ball to spare.

The one-dayer was almost reduced to a Twenty20 fixture as it witnessed as many as four stoppages due to rain during the West Indies innings – including a two hour and five minutes delay at the start of the match. The interruptions forced the overs to be brought down to 27 per side.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and company have so far shown great resolve by being unperturbed by the off-field controversies surrounding the team and living up to their defending champions’ tag by recording facile wins against Bangladesh and Ireland in their Group A league matches. But the path here onwards will be difficult for them to tread on especially after explosive opener Virender Sehwag, who can turn the tide in his team’s favour on his day, was ruled out of the tournament owing to a shoulder injury.

“It’s good to be in Super Eight. From now, each and every game would be difficult,” Dhoni admitted. While makeshift opener Rohit Sharma is doing his best to ensure that team does not feel the absence of Sehwag, captain Dhoni is elated at the return of form of his bowling spearhead Zaheer Khan, who recovered just in time from his shoulder injury. Zaheer, with his 4-19 against Ireland yesterday, has rediscovered his rhythm and that will surely boost India’s bowling strength.Dhoni was visibly relieved after seeing Zaheer, also adjudged the man of the match, getting into the groove so soon at Trent Bridge.

“It’s really good that he is back in form. He was back in the groove, swinging the ball and hitting the right areas. Our bowlers did really well with the new ball and the spinners did their job too. I’m happy with our bowling,” Dhoni said.

Dhoni used the warm-up matches as well as the group matches to experiment before he zeroes down on the final combination and the strategy for the main part of the tournament. “We are trying a few things. I think we have to see what combination we are playing with and decide depending on that,” he said.

In the fielding department, the Indian skipper wants his players to pull up their socks for success. “In the field, we didn’t perform our best. We can definitely be better in the field. It’s like 80-90 per cent efficiency. I’m getting demanding but I know we can do it”.

Dhoni appears to be justified in being a bit demanding as the West Indies seems to swear by the Twenty20 format and have just tasted blood by knocking out Australia.

West Indian captain Chris Gayle wants to embrace T20 completely, even at the cost of Tests or one-dayers, and it’s a philosophy which is slowing permeating down to every single individual of the side. Opener Gayle himself is West Indies biggest strength, the highest scorer of the present tournament, the only batsman in the history of T20 internationals to have hit a hundred, and a typhoon who on his day can make attacks shudder. Gayle is West Indies lynchpin but there are number of formidable strikers, backed by a limpet at the crease in Shivnaraine Chanderpaul. Xaiver Marshall, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Andre Fletcher, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard and wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin come in succession and clearly it’s a batting which can put the fear of god in any bowling line-up.

The bowling too has impressive spearheads in Fidel Edwards and Jerome Taylor who are fast yet different, one whose yorkers are well-guided missiles and the other whose lifters with swing, often late, can wreck carnage on opposition.

This is a line-up which would test Dhoni’s theories to the utmost. The Indian skipper likes to hold wickets in hand for a late assault but Edwards and Taylor are just the kind of bowlers who can test such a resolve. Dhoni also likes to have match-winning bowlers and all four of his protagonists Zaheer and Ishant; Harbhajan and Pragyan Ojha fit the ball but in a shorter format of the game against destructive bats like Gayle, anything can happen.

The only weakness of Gayle’s team is its inconsistency and the flips and flops of the Caribbean sides in recent years is  almost notorious.