Superb performances from Roston Chase, Alzarri Joseph, and Andre Russell were not enough to stave off South Africa (RSA) after poor batting from the West Indies, followed by a rain delay, crushed their World Cup dreams at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Sunday, June 23.

Put in to bat, the Proteas bowlers tore apart the WI batting lineup.

Despite a hero performance from Chase (52), critical early dismissals from the batting lineup, including Shai Hope (0), Nicholas Pooran (1), Rovman Powell (1), and Sherfane Rutherford (0), and the untimely dismissal of Andre Russell (15) by run out, left the South Africans to chase just 136 runs to win.

The Windies felt their first ray of hope in the counterattack dream during the second over with two quick wickets by Russell (2-19), which led to the dismissal of RSA dangermen Quinton de Kock (12) and Reeza Hendricks (0). However, a rain delay killed all the momentum the Windies were building and readjusted South Africa’s target to beat 123 runs within 17 overs due to the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method.

The WI left-arm spinners were uncharacteristically ineffective in this match, with Akeal Hosein (0-31) and Gudakesh Motie (0-20) ending the match as WI’s most expensive bowlers.

Tight bowling from Joseph (2-25) and especially Chase (3-12) made the match an impressive nail-biter as they brought the South Africans well into their lower-order batsmen and down to the last over, needing five to win off six balls.

However, the Windies’ lack of death over power became their downfall as Obed McCoy’s (0-15) first delivery of the final over was struck by Marco Jansen (21) who went for six runs and ended the game.

Bowing out before the semi-finals as the host nation is undoubtedly a disappointing finish for the team that was ranked third in the world in the ICC T20 rankings, and it is easy to mention the what-ifs: what if Brandon King wasn’t injured, what if there were slightly fewer dot balls, what if Russell ran for the double a little faster, or what if Powell kept his foot just a few inches into the crease or Pooran had a better game?

Ultimately, the West Indies did not cross the finish line, and South Africa and England will be moving on to the semi-finals.