South Africa did not just have West Indies to face in Guyana, bad weather and their diminishing World Test Championship (WTC) final chances were cause of equal worry for the Proteas. But everything fell right where the Temba Bavuma-led team wanted it to in the second Test match against West Indies, where Keshav Maharaj made his magic run again, bringing his series wickets tally up to 13. The 40-run victory over West Indies is South Africa’s second in six Test matches of the ongoing WTC cycle. With the first Test match ending in a stalemate, this victory means the South African team has bagged the series as well.
World Test Championship Scenario
This victory has also made the situation in the World Test Championship table very interesting. No one can say for sure which team has a better chance of ending in the top two. The next few months, which are teeming with long-format games, remain very crucial in deciding who will stay in contention for the Test mace.
Despite starting the WTC with an epochal innings win over India, South Africa were not able to add to their points because of three back-to-back defeats. Things, for now, are looking better for them but they have a very narrow margin of error. A mistake or two can see them out of the hunt for the final spot.
Owing to the victory, the Proteas have moved above the WTC table. With 28 points now, the African team is in the fifth position, forcing both Pakistan and England to demote. Their next two red ball series are against Sri Lanka and Pakistan respectively. Although they have only four matches left to play to prove their mettle in this WTC cycle, the home advantage in both series will increase their odds of keeping the points running up.
For West Indies, however, the situation has turned more daunting with the defeat, as they slip to the bottom of the table, with only one win next to their name. Even if the Windies win all of their next four Test matches against Pakistan and Bangladesh, which seems very unlikely in all fairness, their chances of making it to the final are very slim.
West Indies vs South Africa: How it happened?
The Providence pitch favored bowlers heavily with just three batters, including West Indies’ Jason Holder and South Africa’s Aiden Markaram, and Kyle Verreynne, accumulating more than 50 runs across four innings. But the contest was never, for once, boring. Although South Africa kept coming back at the West Indies frequently, the hosts did not give up until they had nothing left. Jayden Seales took nine wickets in both innings including his career-best 6-61 in the second innings. However, his brilliance was overshadowed by the magic South Africa bowlers spun. Wiaan Mulder’s six wickets helped Kagiso Rabada and Maharaj to wrap things up with a session and two days to spare, though Rabada would be rueing missing out on reaching the 300 Test wickets milestone, which he missed by just one wicket.
