Hendricks' 83 in vain as West Indies beat South Africa by 7 runs

A careerbest 83 off 44 balls by Reeza Hendricks was not enough for South Africa as they fell to a sevenrun defeat to West Indies in the decisive third and final T20I at the Wanderers Stadium hereThe righthander thumped two sixes and 11 fours in his sparkling innings before becoming one of Alzarri Josephs five victims after falling in the penultimate over as the runrate began to soar in South Africas pursuit of 221In the end South Africa finished with 2136 seven short of what would have been another epic chase as they slipped to a 21 series defeat to the West IndiesAt the start the Proteas tried to follow the trend of the series where the chasing side had won each of the previous two games with captain Aiden Markram winning the toss and bowling firstOpeners Kyle Mayers 17 and Brandon King 36 provided West Indies with a strong start by putting on 39 in the first 32 overs before Kagiso Rabada 250 cleaned up the former and Johnson Charles 0 centurion hero from second T20I at SuperSport Park in successive deliveriesKing then helped Nicholas Pooran 41 off 19 balls add 55 for the next wicket to put West Indies in a strong position of 942 in the ninth over When Anrich Nortje 236 struck to remove King the home side began to claw their way back as Lungi Ngidi 245 and Markram 121 took key wickets to leave the score on 161 for eight in the 16th overAlso readWindies fight back after Markram Zorzi score fifties against South AfricaBut then came trouble for the Proteas in the form of allrounder Romario Shepherd who bludgeoned an unbeaten 44 off 22 balls and together with Joseph slamming 14 not out played big part in an unbroken 61run stand for the ninth wicket as West Indies reached 2208 including 26 runs being hit in the final over of the inningsThe chase began well for South Africa thanks to Hendricks and fellow opener Quinton de Kock 21 The pair put on 32 in just over four overs before the latter holed out to deep point off Joseph in the fourth overNext in was Rossouw who combined for a partnership of 80 alongside Hendricks for the second wicket to ensure South Africa was in the hunt of chasing 221 But once Rossouw and David Miller 11 fell in quick succession the scoreboard pressure began to build and Hendricks was left with little choice but to throw his bat aroundHe went for one shot too many at the start of the 19th over in which Joseph struck thrice to press home the West Indian advantage and finish with 540 in his four overs In the end it was left to Markram to try and get the 26 runs needed from the final over but he could hit only 18 giving West Indies the series winBrief Scores West Indies 2208 in 20 overs Romario Shepherd 44 not out Nicholas Pooran 41 Anrich Nortje 236 Lungi Ngidi 245 beat South Africa 2136 in 20 overs Reeza Hendricks 83 Aiden Markram 35 not out Alzarri Joseph 540 Jason Holder 142 by seven runsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever