Kwena Maphaka took five wickets as he bowled South Africa to a hard-fought 31-run victory over the West Indies in their ICC Under-19 World Cup in Potchefstroom.
With the West Indies on track for a comfortable victory in pursuit of 286 with just 36 runs needed with three wickets in hand, the left-handed quick returned to the attack to make a crucial breakthrough which turned out to be the death knell for the visitors.
Maphaka returned figures of 5/38, but it was a fiery inswinging yorker to clean bowl Nathan Edward which started the late collapse for the West Indies. The Windies were 250/7 at that point, but were swiftly bundled all out for 254.
Jewel had Andrew struck a magnificent 130 from 96 balls (14x4s, 2x6s) and was seemingly steering his side to victory after they had looked in trouble at 73/5 after 10 overs.
Andrew taking the game away
Andrew, together with Nathan Sealy who made 33 from 55 balls (2x4s), put on 117 for the sixth wicket to wrestle the advantage.
Earlier, after losing the toss and being sent in to bat, wicketkeeper-opener Lhuan-dre Pretorius took a liking to the West Indies attack as he struck 40 from 34 balls (4x4s, 1x6) before he was bowled by Nathan Sealy in the 11th over.
It was the second strike for the Windies as South Africa were reduced to 60/2. The wicket brought David Teeger to the middle, after the youngster had been constantly in the news off the field for his comments on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Having been stripped of his captaincy as a result, it meant the pressure was heaped on the 19-year-old’s shoulders. However, he showed some steely resolve in a knock of 44 from 98 balls (3x4s) to take the score to 145. It was then that the visitors hit back with a triple strike as South Africa fell from 145/3 to 145/6 in the space of five deliveries.
Coming in at number six, Dewan Marais top scored with a blistering 65 from 38 balls (4x4s, 4x6s) with newly appointed skipper Juan James helping his teammate with a fine innings of 47 from 54 (3x4s, 1x6) as South Africa posted an imposing total of 285/9.
Sealy was the pick of the bowlers for the Windies, with impressive figures of 3/34 from his 10 overs.