South Africa Champions started their World Championship of Legends journey with a thrilling win against the West Indies Champions. The match was exciting and ended in a rare ball-out, which reminded fans of the 2007 India vs Pakistan T20 match. Rain delayed the game and reduced it to just 11 overs per side.
West Indies batted first and scored 79 runs for 5 wickets. Lendl Simmons played a good knock of 28 runs and Chadwick Walton supported with 27. However, the other big players, such as Chris Gayle, Dwayne Smith, and Kieron Pollard, failed to make an impact. Bravo made only 8 runs and Pollard didn’t even open his account.
Due to rain, South Africa had to chase a DLS target of 81 runs. Their start wasn’t great as they lost a wicket in the second over. AB de Villiers, returning to cricket after a long time, made just 3 runs. Hashim Amla added 15 before getting out. Sarel Erwee scored 27 runs and JP Duminy made 25, helping the team stay in the game.
In the final over, South Africa needed 9 runs to win. Duminy and JJ Smuts were batting. They scored 7 runs in the first three balls, and now just 2 runs were needed from the last three balls. But Smuts got bowled on the fourth ball. On the fifth ball, Morne van Wyk was caught out. The last ball brought only one leg-bye run. The match ended in a tie.
With no Super Over planned, the match went into a ball-out. South Africa got the first chance. Aaron Phangiso, Chris Morris, and Hardus Viljoen all missed their shots. But JJ Smuts broke the streak and hit the stumps on the fourth attempt. Then Wayne Parnell also hit the target on the fifth try, giving South Africa a 2-0 lead.
Now it was the West Indies’ turn. They needed at least two hits from five chances to stay alive. But Fidel Edwards, Sheldon Cottrell, Ashley Nurse, and Dwayne Bravo all failed to hit the stumps. They missed all their chances and could not score even a single hit.
South Africa won the ball-out 2-0 and took the match excitingly and rarely. The result gave fans an old-school cricket feel and brought back memories of early T20 days. The match was short, tense, and packed with drama till the last ball. South Africa walked away with a strong start to the tournament, while West Indies were left thinking about their missed chances. This match proved that even after years, cricket can still surprise us in the most unexpected ways.