South Africa vs West Indies, 3rd T20I, West Indies tour of South Africa, 2026 - Commentary

The winning trophy is presented to Markram and then the whole team crowd around to pose for the cameras. That's the series done and both sides will now head to the T20 World Cup. On that note we end our coverage as well. Time to escape after a long day. See you soon for more cricket. Take care, bye bye. As a parting gift we will leave you with South Africa Test captain - Temba Bavuma's interview who was speaking earlier on.

Temba Bavuma: Yeah, look, normally I'm on the field when it's a pink day, things are a bit different now. But yeah, I'm coming as a fan, obviously, to support the boys they are well on their way on their World Cup journey. So all the best to the boys. But also more from a personal point of view with the foundation. We're hosting all our scholars, or most of our scholars at the foundation, their families. Good way just to start the year, but also to celebrate our 10-year mark as a foundation. Pivotal mark for us, a lot of achievements, a lot of success stories, but still a lot for us to do. (success stories of his foundation) Yeah, I mean, you think of Temba Bavuma foundation, you think of cricket, and unearthing cricketers. And we have individuals who've gone on to represent their provincial sides. We also, academics is a big feature of ours. So the individuals who haven't gone the cricketing route, you know, we support them to become something within the workplace. So individuals becoming accountants, legal heads, you know, well within that space. So those are the success stories. And then the social side in terms of the initiatives we have, the feeding schemes, the food drive, clothing drives, and all of that. We've been able to touch a lot of lives, thousands of lives around the country. So yeah, a lot of good within the foundation. It brings me a lot of joy, a lot of joy. Sometimes more than what cricket does, it brings me a lot of joy. (what has Bavuma been doing?) Temba was on holiday. Actually, it's actually quite nice. My first Christmas with the full family since 2008, when I started being a professional cricketer. That was quite nice, being in Langa, being part of everything that comes with being TOSA (Teacher on Special Assignment), boys coming back from the bush and all of that. So that was quite fun. A lot of meat, a lot of brandy went down. But yeah, now I'm back, getting back into the thick of things. Back into the gym. I'm trying to get strong, you know, managing myself as best as I can. You know, nowadays things are a bit different, you know. There's all these bigger plans and you know, we have the 2027 World Cup. And I guess the guys are still showing faith in me in terms of my management. It's around that and being selective in terms of the games that I'm involved in. Sometimes a bit unfashionable decision. You know, some people aren't happy with it. Sometimes I think, you know, as long as there's cricket logic behind the decision, so I'll be joining with the Lions guys in the 50-over comp. You know, they are busy with the 4-day stuff. They're well on their way. But I'll be supporting the guys from where I am. (plenty of Test cricket later in the year) Yeah, it's a big year right. I mean, Australia, England, you know, just to name those two guys. We'll have some local cricket as well. We missed out on that last year. And I think thinking about the Australia one, it will be the first opportunity that us as champions will be playing here at home. You know, so I think that's an opportunity for the people to come and I guess relive that moment, you know, whatever it means at this point in time. And it's obviously a... a quest for us to get back into that World Test Championship and hopefully have an opportunity to defend that. So a lot of cricket, not to forget Sri Lanka as well, afterwards, Sri Lanka that will be away. Don't think this... Sri Lanka is tough to tour Sri Lanka, but yeah, a lot of cricket. ODI cricket as well, let's not forget that.

Gudakesh Motie | Player of the Match: I'm very happy with the performance. I was in and out of the team and I was just waiting for the opportunity. So I'm happy that ball coming out very good. (bowling different deliveries) Yeah, I was working a lot on the Chinaman but it was all about confidence and I got the go ahead from the coaching staff to go out and do it and I'm happy that it come out pretty well. (on this game as a preparation for the World Cup) Well, I'll say very good, because the condition here was a pretty good one for batting. So it's more about hitting your good lengths and use your variation.

Quinton de Kock | Player of the Series: To be fair, there's not much planning. We've played so many games in the last month, so I haven't really thought about it. Just trying to continue with my process, just trying to get my head and just play the game as it goes on. So, not much to it, to be honest. Just been playing, use my brain a bit. (on ensuring clarity in his mind) I think when you've played so many games, it kind of just happens. Obviously, I don't really think about much. I'm one of those guys that goes onto the field and see what's happening and I'll just react to everything. So, I think after playing so many games, it just comes naturally now. Like I said, just use my brain a bit and carry on.

Shai Hope | West Indies captain: I have to be very happy. Anytime you cross that line, the aim is to win games. So it's good to see the guys showing that fight for the last two games we played and coming out with a victory to finish (adapt and adjust to a curtailed game) Firstly I would say is a lot more challenging setting totals, especially when you're not sure what would be a good one. When you've got 10 wickets in hand, chasing a smaller total or a shortened game, I think the batting team would normally have an advantage batting second. But yeah, it just felt as though the guys, you know, started really well. We actually gave ourselves a chance to understand, okay, this is what we need to do when we go back out. But it's always challenging. It's never easy stopping and starting. So it's good to see the guys show that focus when we came out there to play. (on the tour as a whole) Like I said earlier, it's more about fine-tuning. It's good to see that we've been ticking more boxes now. It's more so about just trying to find out that formula that would give us the best chance to go as deep and hopefully win the trophy in India. So yeah, it's good signs. So many things that we could look at. Very good positives. It's great to see Shimron Hetmyer back in the runs and doing it so consistently and very fluently as well. And bowlers hitting their straps. You see when we execute it, the cricket looks a lot different. So I'm very happy to see the strides that we're making as a team and hope we can continue and continue growing as a strong team and go into the tournament on a high. (on today's win) I think it's necessary, especially from a bowling standpoint. We can't really hide from the truth. We haven't been hitting our straps as well as we would like to in the last couple of years. It's good to see we found ourselves in a pressure situation like that and being able to execute. Shamar coming in for the first game and showing what he's capable of doing. So very happy to see those things. And like I said, we just got to continue from here.

Aiden Markram | South Africa captain: Yeah, it becomes quite tricky to be honest. Five overs of powerplay and then basically five overs of death. So they hit the ball really well tonight. I thought they hit some pretty good shots against the spin specifically and got to a score that was going to take quite a bit to chase, but we backed ourselves to get there and unfortunately just fell short. Yeah, a lot. I think everyone, whenever they were asked to do a role tonight was under immense pressure, so that's a big exercise, a really good exercise for us tonight and quite a few of the guys put their hands up and showed some really good promise in those moments. So there is definitely some good stuff to take from tonight. Unfortunately didn't get over the line, it was a great day and a great crowd, but yeah, it was still a good entertaining game, I suppose. (on the World Cup) Yeah, look, I thought it was a good series. A lot of good signs from us. A lot of good players that are in some nice form, which is always a big positive and a nice thing to have going to a World Cup. And now it's just about getting there, assessing, getting used to those conditions again. Fortunately, we've played quite a bit of cricket there and try hit the ground running. We've got that warm-up game basically as we get there and then, yeah, straight into the comp. So exciting times ahead and, yeah, happy with where the team is at. (happy with the World Cup squad?) Yeah, I think we've got all bases covered. So we'll pick the XI on the day based on what we feel the conditions are going to be and we'll take it from there. But, yeah, happy with where everyone's at, at the moment in the squad and how everyone's sort of looking and building up towards that first game.

22:19 Local Time, 20:19 GMT, 01:49 IST: A consolation win for West Indies to end this series. Quinton de Kock started off from where he left off in the last game with a big opening over. Smartly Shai Hope brought on spin after that and that turned things. Wickets fell as Chase, Hosein and Motie did the trick. Still South Africa kept going for it and Jason Smith biffed a few. With 16 needed off the final over, Shamar Joseph kept his nerve and delivered the yorkers to grab a win for West Indies. The series may have been lost but this was an important win for West Indies as both sides head into the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. Stay tuned for the post-match stuff...

9 off 2. One good delivery will do it for West Indies. Corbin can hit them. Holder has a chat with Shamar. Stubbs and Corbin have a chat. Some can't bear to watch. Shukri Conrad the South African coach is pensive. Now Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Powell and Holder in Shamar's ear. Here we go...

Shamar Joseph to Jason Smith, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!

9 off 3, all three balls have been pace-on so far. Shamar Joseph loses his run. The crowd boo. Tension inside the Bull Ring.

A chat between Shai Hope and Shamar Joseph. Also Holder and Powell in Shamar's ear. 15 off 5.