Morne van Wyk, hero of the T20 victory over the West Indies, accepts that he may have had his 15 minutes of fame.
‘I’m playing in place of someone who is injured so, even though I scored a hundred, it could be my last game for a while. If that’s the case then at least I contributed and made some runs,’ he said. ‘I don’t get the opportunity that much. But if I play and wear this shirt, I want to win as well.’
Van Wyk scored 114 off 70 balls (9×4, 7×6) to become only the third South African, after Richard Levi and Faf du Plessis, to score a hundred in T20Is, and it was his aggression and striking power, particularly at the end, which set up the Proteas 195-3; a target the West Indies never came close to.
David Wiese cut through their top order, taking 5-23, the second best figures by a South African bowler in T20 internationals after Ryan McLaren, (5-19, 2010).
The West Indies started well, but when the second wicket fell,with 60 on the board, it started a slide that no one could stop. They lost the next eight wickets for 58 runs.
West Indies captain Darren Sammy denied that his team had not been completely focused on the game after having already secured a series victory. They had also rested some big players, including the iconic Chris Gayle ahead of the one-day series starting on Friday.
‘Give credit to the South Africans,’ he said. ‘They learnt from the last two games and they executed much better . I don’t want rob them of any credit, they played well. We want to win every game we play, we just didn’t play as well as we did in the first two games.’
South Africa captain Justin Ontong, standing in for the recuperating Faf du Plessis, paid tribute to his team.
‘I’m just happy for the boys. We prepared so hard for this series and I thought that we played some excellent cricket. We owed it to ourselves to put in a performance like this,’ he said.
‘I’m very happy for Morne and David. They were two outstanding individual performances. Morne has been one of the best domestic players around the circuit, for years now, his record speaks for itself. It was a very special innings from him.’
Van Wyk may be looking a little on the pessimistic side, for he has been drafted into the ODI squad as cover for Quinton de Kock. The first of five ODIs start in Durban on Friday.
Schedule: Friday: 1st ODI, Durban, 13:30; Sunday: 2nd ODI, Johannesburg, 10:00; Jan 21: 3rd ODI, East London, 13.30; Jan 25: 4th ODI, Port Elizabeth, 10:00; Jan 28: 5th ODI: Centurion, 13:30.
Photo: Backpagepix
