Morning has yet to show the day

Yesterday8217;s match symbolised team effort 8212;- in victory and defeat, and showed that one man blazing can set the match, up but it needs a coordinated effort to seal victory. After Chris Gayle8217;s stupendous knock it seemed West Indies were set for victory. But then the West Indian fielders dropped catches and their bowlers bowled 23 wides.

8220;Of course it cost us the game. Like I said, the number of wides and dropped catches cost us most, extra balls that were bowled went to extra boundaries,8221; analysed West Indian skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan. 8220;It8217;s just a process that we go back to the drawing board and bowl at the nets, field well during practice and come back better the next game.8221;

South African batsmen, on the other hand, started a bit too cautiously for the huge task at hand, but accelerated well with contributions from many 8212;-Herschelle Gibbs8217; outstanding 90 not out from 54 balls with 14 fours and two sixes was crucial just as much as Justin Kemp8217;s unbeaten 46 from 23 balls. Clean, cricketing shots and calculated approach worked.

8220;We won 25 of the 40 overs that was played, and I am very pleased and happy with that,8221; says South African coach Micky Arthur. 8220;We set little targets to achieve 8212; we always do that while chasing 8212; and I am happy that we were always ahead of where we wanted to be.8221;

Opinions vary on the decision after winning the toss. Sarwan says he will always go by the conditions as such; Arthur says he fancies chasing because you can manage your batting well and MS Dhoni would always want to bat first because eight-an-over chases can get iffy and should be avoided 8212;- Three options already on offer.

Over to Durban on the second day of the competition 8212;- different conditions, and the ball dominated the bat as New Zealand skittled out Kenya for a meagre 73. A great fall in the record books of Twenty20 8212;- from the highest, scored twice in two innings of a single match, to the lowest.

Gayle gave the best batting performance ever, and the best ever bowling performance came next match with Mark Gillespie8217;s 2.5-0-7-4. To add spice to the entire Twenty20 curry, the third game was won by the spinners as Shahid Afridi took 4 for 19 to rout Scotland by 51 runs.

As India enter the competition today, there8217;s no single thing that MS Dhoni can pick straight from any match. He will, unfortunately do the hard work and get a success guide for himself.

So far three matches, three different outputs, and no single trend as such, no single definition either. Different formulae for different matches on different conditions 8212;- that8217;s Twenty20 for you. Truly, this tournament is off the hook!

SCOREBOARD

West Indies: C Gayle c Boucher b van der Wath 117, D Smith c Boucher b Philander 35, M Samuels c de Villiers b Pollock 6, S Chanderpaul c Boucher b van der Wath 11, D Smith c Gibbs b M Morkel 1, R Sarwan c de Villiers b Philander 12, D Ramdin not out 6, D Bravo not out 0

Extras lb4, w12, nb1: 17; Total For 6 wkts, 20 overs: 205

Fall of wickets: 1-145, 2-152, 3-178, 4-182, 5-188, 6-204

Bowling: S Pollock 4-0-52-1, M Ntini 2-0-19-0, J van der Wath 4-0-33-2, M Morkel 4-0-30-1, VD Philander 4-0-35-2, JA Morkel 1-0-16-0, G Smith 1-0-16-0

South Africa: G Smith c Gayle b Rampaul 28, H Gibbs not out 90, AB de Villiers c Ramdin b Edwards 16, JM Kemp not out 46

Extras lb4, w23, nb1: 28; Total For 2 wkts, 17.4 overs: 208

Fall of wickets: 1-54, 2-88

Bowling: D Powell 4-0-34-0, R Rampaul 4-0-52-1, D Smith 2-0-37-0, F Edwards 3-0-21-1, D Bravo 2.4-0-39-0, M Samuels 2-0-21-0