West Indies vs South Africa, 18th Match, Group 1 at Dubai, T20 World Cup, Oct 26 2021 - Ball by Ball Commentary

5.50pmThe South Africa captain spoke well. He didn't reveal a lot about de Kock's decision but said his team was rattled but ultimately rallied and they played very well dismantling West Indies who look hard-pressed to defend their title after two straight losses. There will be plenty to follow from this game with Firdose Moonda and Deivarayan Muthu covering it for us. On behalf of Peter Della Penna and Chandan Duorah, this is Alex Malcolm signing off from Dubai.

Temba Bavuma: "Much better than our first game. We knew there were areas that we needed to improve on. Particularly our batting. Our bowling again was outstanding. A good day for us. We're not too sure how the wickets are going to react so we thought Aiden out there [with the ball] let him have a go and he obviously bowled quite well. Those are the types of performances we needed with the bat. Aiden has been hitting the ball wonderfully at the moment. [On de Kock] When the news hit us it did kind of take us back as a team. A guy like Quinnie, he obviously plays an integral role within the team, not just with the bat but as a senior player but with that, Klaasen coming in there was an opportunity for him, it was another game of cricket that we had to play for our country and we had to live up to that."

Kieron Pollard: "Obviously just a matter that we haven't scored enough runs. It's disappointing today. I thought the first 6 overs, the end result of 43 without loss we would have taken that. We wanted to keep that momentum going but we lost a couple of wickets. It was a kind of stop start position. [On Simmons] These things happen, yes he got stuck. After 6 overs he was there and we wanted to bat a couple more overs without losing wickets. Having said that you are not going to get me here throwing my teammates under the bus. They're trying. At the end of the day you saw Rassie came out and played the same for them. It was a disappointing total batting effort not getting 160 plus. Before we think about the net run-rate we've got to win first."

Anrich Nortje is Player of the match for his 1 for 14 from 4 overs. Nortje: "100 per cent [playing in the IPL] helped me quite a lot. Just having the confidence of knowing the conditions, understanding what to do and when to do it has definitely helped me here. It was a good wicket actually. Similar to the IPL, playing around with the grip brings in some extra variation."

5.35pm Lots to talk about in so many ways today. But for now, how about that Markram knock. West Indies were always underdogs after the total that they posted following Simmons' glacial start but the way Markram dominated that chase was impressive.

Saumil Madgavka: "Tbh, I don't see WI qualifying for the next round now with their remaining matches against Aus, SL, and Ban. This group is a battle royale and every win counts. Tonight they had the best shot against a QDK-less SA to open their account and improve their NRR a bit, but they were too cautious at the beginning of their innings."

Russell now bowling around the stumps like Bravo.

Delay between balls as Pooran calls for a helmet from the boundary to stand up the stumps for Bravo.

Required run rate now under a run a ball. South Africa walking this home.