West Indies meet South Africa in Ahmedabad on Thursday in a match that could all but settle a semi-final place. Both sides are unbeaten, West Indies carry the healthier net-run-rate, and, intriguingly, five of their players spent January and February mixing it with South Africa’s leading cricketers in the SA20.
Shai Hope, Sherfane Rutherford and Roston Chase turned out for Pretoria Capitals, Akeal Hosein for Joburg Super Kings, and left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie for Paarl Royals. Hope and Rutherford finished fourth and seventh on the tournament run-scorers’ list, hauling Capitals into the final before losing to Sunrisers Eastern Cape. In the process they faced Quinton de Kock, Marco Jansen, Anrich Nortje and the rest of the Proteas attack at close quarters.
Does that recent familiarity tilt Thursday’s contest? The West Indies camp are not making a song and dance about it. Batting coach Floyd Reifer offered the stock, common-sense line: “When you play against teams in international cricket, guys know each other. They play against each other even in franchise cricket.”
Fair enough, yet South Africa’s dressing-room will have pored over exactly what those Caribbean batters achieved on their home patch. Capitals captain Keshav Maharaj admitted as much. “We chatted briefly about it [West Indies players in SA20 squads],” Maharaj said. “We know the danger that they possess, so it’s about coming up with nice, simple plans and focusing on our execution towards those batters.”
Maharaj saw the threat at first hand. Hope’s unbeaten 118 dismantled an attack featuring Lungi Ngidi, while Rutherford and Dewald Brevis dragged Capitals from 5 for 7 to a match-winning 143 for 6. Rutherford’s strike-rate of 165.34 was the best of anyone who scored 200-plus runs in the tournament and he has kept swinging: only two players have cleared the ropes more often at this World Cup. At training on Wednesday he spent thirty carefree minutes depositing half-volleys and length balls into the middle tier.
South Africa’s brains trust will have him and Shimron Hetmyer – West Indies’ leading run-scorer in the pre-World Cup T20I series between the sides – in red ink on the whiteboard. That three-match series, remember, finished 2-1 to West Indies and underlined how quickly they can change gears once set.
Yet the Proteas carry their own form and a small advantage. They have played twice at Ahmedabad this fortnight and read the surface better each time, especially in the powerplay where the new ball grips a touch and the big square boundaries invite mishits. West Indies are yet to set foot on the ground in a match situation, though most of them have hit in the middle during the IPL.
The tactical puzzle therefore feels straightforward. Can South Africa’s fast-medium quartet squeeze the scoring in the first six overs and deny Rutherford his platform? And can West Indies’ spinners, principally Motie and Chase, limit Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller when 150 looks par?
If either side needed extra motivation it comes from the schedule. South Africa finish their Super Eight run against Zimbabwe, perceived – perhaps unfairly – as the softest fixture left. West Indies still face India, who look ominously balanced. Lose on Thursday and Nicholas Pooran’s men will probably have to beat the hosts in front of 70,000 partisan fans. Win and they might only need to keep the India margin respectable.
A couple of selection calls hang in the air. South Africa are weighing whether to bring back Gerald Coetzee for extra pace, while West Indies must decide if Alzarri Joseph is fully over a sore ankle picked up in the nets. Neither camp gave much away at practice, though Maharaj hinted the surface “looked pretty similar to the last game” – code for two frontline spinners plus the captain’s own left-arm darts.
Past results suggest very little separates these teams. Since the last World Cup they have shared a bilateral series apiece and, on neutral turf, both line-ups boast the same win percentage (72%) in all T20s. The margins, then, feel increasingly granular: a mis-field here, a wide there, one over of brutal hitting that flips the algorithmic net-run-rate tables.
Long tournaments can create false finals – India v South Africa last week was billed as one – but this fixture has the more obvious jeopardy. One slip and a semi-final spot may vanish. One inspired cameo – Rutherford has specialised in those all year – and an entire winter of franchise education might pay off.
Nobody inside either dressing-room is admitting it, yet the undercurrent is hard to ignore. West Indies know the men in green as well as they know anyone. South Africa know that West Indies know. The rest of us get to find out, in real time, whose homework counts for more.
