Hope, Hetmyer help West Indies reach 114-3 from 10 overs

West Indies captain Shai Hope’s 48 from 25 balls led his team to a much disrupted total of 114-3 from just 10 overs after being asked to bat first in the third and final T20 International against South Africa at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Saturday evening.

Lightning in the near vicinity of the venue delayed the start of play by 75 minutes and the West Indies reached 66-1 after the six-over Power Play when lightning returned and play was suspended.

South Africa’s DLS target will be considerably greater than 115 but the calculators were still whirring 10 minutes into the brief innings break.

Hope was unbeaten on 38 from just 19 balls with a trio of fours and sixes at the break with Shimron Hetmyer on 26* from 14 balls and they were left with just four overs to bat when play resumed with the match reduced to 10-overs per side.

Hope added a six against Keshav Maharaj before slapping him to Corbin Bosch at long off and Hetmyer added two more maximums to leave the veteran spinner with a bruising analysis of 2-0-38-0.

Maharaj and fellow spinner Aiden Markram bore the brunt of the early assault with both conceding 18 runs from the single over they bowled before the stoppage.

Rovman Powell (13) muscled two sixes from seven balls before pumping Kwena Maphaka to Dewald Brevis at long off but Hetmyer was cleverly and frustratingly denied much of the strike for much of the final four overs finishing with 48* from 22 balls with

Bosch (2-0-16-0) bowled two remarkably frugal overs at the end conceding just 10 runs from 11 balls before a low full-toss was despatched over square leg by Hetmyer who finished unbeaten on 48 from 22 balls with a four and six sixes.

Opener Johnson Charles was the sole casualty before the interruption driving Lungi Ngidi to short extra cover where Jason Smith held a sharp catch.

South Africa hold an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series following commanding victories by nine-wickets and seven wickets in Paarl and Centurion respectively.

The match sees the Proteas wearing their annual pink playing kit for Pink Day to raise funds for the Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital in Johannesburg in the battle to raise awareness of the importance of detection and early treatment of breast cancer.

South Africa: Aiden Markram (captain), Quinton de Kock (wkt), Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brevis, Jason Smith, Tristan Stubbs, George Linde, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj, Kwena Maphaka, Lungi Ngidi

West Indies: Shai Hope (captain/wkt), Johnson Charles, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Matthew Forde, Romario Shepherd, Roston Chase, Jason Holder, Shamar Joseph, Gudakesh Motie, Akeal Hosein