West Indies on Monday (June 24) suffered a narrow three-wicket defeat (DLS method) at the hands of South Africa in their last Super 8 match of the T20 World Cup 2024 in Antigua.
With this loss, the two-time champions were knocked out of the showpiece tournament. Despite facing the elimination before the semi-finals, West Indies skipper Rovman Powell said his side should be proud of reviving interest in Caribbean cricket.
In order to qualify for the last-four stage, the co-hosts needed to break the unbeaten streak of South Africa but they failed to do so.
"When you look on a large scale, we haven't won the World Cup, we aren't in the semi-finals, but I think the cricket that we've played in the last 12 months or so is commendable," Powell said, according to Reuters.
"Credit has to be given to the team, if you can take a year to move from number nine to number three in the world, that's tremendous work.
"We haven't won the World Cup but there was a lot of improvement and there's a lot of buzz around the Caribbean again about West Indies cricket."
Powell thanked the West Indies supporters who had flocked to the stadiums to cheer for the team.
"They have been fantastic," he added. "It's good to see that some buzz is back in the Caribbean for the cricket because we know for how long that has died down. And I know people are rallying around the West Indies as they do.
"Now, when we hear the anthem play as players, we feel something, and I think that is heading in the right direction. Credit has to be given to the guys, they fought tonight and they fought throughout the last 12 months."
According to Powell, this tournament would signal a change in the West Indies' fortunes.
"Now is where the work starts for us to continue to work as a group still be tight," he said. "And hopefully, just hopefully we can continue to climb the rankings and make the Caribbean people proud."
Coming to the match, West Indies posted a modest total of 135/8 on the board after being asked to bat first. All-rounder Roston Chase was the top scorer with 42-ball 52 while opener Kyle Mayers contributed 35 off 34 balls.
Left-arm spinner Tabraiz Shamsi was the pick of the bowlers for South Africa, claiming three wickets by conceding 27 runs in his four overs.
In reply, the Proteas got off to a bad start as they lost their openers - Reeza Hendricks (0) and Quinton de Kock (12) – in the first two overs. At this moment, the rain also interrupted play and South Africa were set a revised target of 123 in 17 overs.
After the rain break, the likes of Reeza Hendricks (29 off 27), Heinrich Klaasen (22 off 10) and Aiden Markram (18 off 15) played handy knocks with the bat but they failed to seal the chase. David Miller (4) and Keshav Maharaj (2) got out in single digits as South Africa found themselves in a spot of bother at 110/7.
Amid the tense situation, Marco Jansen rose to the occasion and produced a brilliant cameo of 14-ball 21* to take the Proteas over the line with five deliveries to spare.
(With Reuters Inputs)
