The mercurial side that they are,few things can be predicted when the West Indies take the field. Bowling first after winning the toss,however,could just be one. With two wins in three matches while chasing,it wasnt surprising that Chris Gayle put South Africa in after calling it correctly at the toss. Then again,with South Africa in the kind of form that they are,the flip of the coin turned out to be the only thing that went Gayle & Cos way at The Oval on Sunday. Bad start Set a target of 184 in 20 overs,the West Indies started off the chase on a wrong foot,losing both the openers Andre Fletcher and Gayle himself with just 12 on board. Lendl Simmons did hit a brilliant 50-ball 77 to raise hopes,but hardly got any support from his team mates,as a disciplined South African attack,led by Wayne Parnell (4/13),restricted them to 163 for nine. While South Africas 20-run win their second in Super Eights and sixth on the trot in T20 internationals all but seals a semi-final spot for them,it also renders Indias match against England on Sunday a must-win for the defending champions. Should India lose,it will leave both the hosts and West Indies with a win apiece. In that case,the winner of the England vs West Indies clash on Monday will advance alongside South Africa,even if India manage to beat the Proteas the following day. The only way India might have had some breathing space was if the West Indies wouldve won Saturdays match,in which case India would have had to wait for Mondays results. But that was not to be. Aiming for their first silverware of consequence,South Africa got down to business straight away. Graeme Smith (31) and Jacques Kallis (45) gave the team a blistering start,before Herschelle Gibbss 35-ball 55,which included eight boundaries and a six,put them on course for a big total. Off the mark The West Indian bowlers,who had tested India less than 24 hours back,looked jaded,giving enough room to the Proteas batsmen to free their arms. Smith set the tempo by clobbering Fidel Edwards for two consecutive boundaries in the second over while Kallis hammered Jerome Taylor for 16 runs in the next. Gayle introduced Dwayne Bravo,the hero of the match against India,into the attack in the fifth,but Smith greeted him with three consecutive boundaries. Gibbs,who was one of the leading run getters in IPL 2,upped the ante after Smith fell to spinner Suleiman Benn. At one stage,the Proteas were 155 for three,but lost wickets in quick succession towards the end. While the West Indian bowling seemed pedestrian,South Africas was impressive,as it had been throughout. And the one bowler who stood out was Parnell. He struck early,removing Fletcher in his first over and the danger man Gayle in the next. Simmons added 57 runs with Bravo (19) but no other batsman stepped up to the challenge.
