South Africa snatched a dramatic last-ball victory in a thrilling Group C league match against West Indies in the ICC Champions Trophy cricket tournament here today to virtually assure themselves of a semifinal berth. The victory was made possible by a wide ball from Mervyn Dillon when South Africa needed three runs from the last ball of the match. After scampering for a bye off the wide ball, Alan Dawson hit a boundary off the next ball to take South Africa’s score to 242 for eight in response to West Indies 238 for eight.

West Indies had almost assured themselves of a victory when South Africa needed 13 off the last over. But South African captain Shaun Pollock hit a six off the very first ball that brought his side back in contention. Pollock was dismissed on the next ball and Lance Klusener one ball later, but West Indies could not hold on to their nerves and allowed South Africa to reach the target. With Kenya being the third team in the group, West Indies campaign in the tournament is all but over.

In a see-saw game, South Africa, after being docked an over for slow bowing rate, slumped to 61 for three before recovering through a record 117-run fourth wicket stand between Boeta Dippenaar (53) and Jonty Rhodes (61). They improved upon the 112-run partnership between Gary Kirsten and Hansie Cronje at Lahore in 1997, that was the previous best for a South African fourth wicket pair against West Indies, and were cruising along nicely at 178 for three when West Indies captain, Carl Hooper gave South Africa a double blow in the 40th over.

Dippenaar was caught by Mahendra Nagamootoo soon after reaching his half century with four fours and Rhodes played on to his stumps two balls later to leave his team 179 for five. Mark Boucher and Lance Klusener strung a useful 41 run partnership for the sixth wicket before Dillon sent both back. With South Africa needing 27 from the last three overs, Boucher hit Dillon for a six off the first ball of the 47th over. But he missed the very next ball and was clean bowled for 23.

Pedro Collins slipped a very tidy 48th over to leave the South Africans a very daunting task of scoring 13 in the last over. But Pollock smashed a full toss into the long-on stands to revive his team’s chances before the drama unfolded. Pollock took two runs on the next ball but holed out to Shivnarine Chanderpaul while going for another big hit on the third ball of the over.

Klusener took another two runs before giving a simple catch to Chanderpaul on the fifth ball. With victory looking almost certain for West Indies, Dillon messed up his good work by sending down a wide down the leg side. Dillon finished with four wickets for 60 runs while Hooper was the most impressive bowler, claiming three wickets for 42 runs. Earlier, the West Indies were restricted to 238 in their allotted 50 overs with openers Chris Gayle and Chanderpaul being the highest contributors, scoring 49 and 45 respectively.

After a slow start, West Indies were helped by attacking batting from Gayle who did the bulk of the scoring in the 63-run opening wicket stand with Chanderpaul. Gayle hit Pollock for two boundaries in the fifth over and then welcomed Allan Donald by taking 14 runs, including three fours, in the bowler’s first over. Donald took his revenge when Gayle snicked a delivery to wicketkeeper Mark Boucher to miss his half-century by just one run.

Star batsman Brian Lara showed flashes of genius before falling to left-arm spinner Nicky Boje. Hooper (27), Ramnaresh Sarwan (36) and Ridley Jacobs (25) got good starts but failed to consolidate their innings as West Indies lost wickets at regular intervals. For South Africa, Donald and Kallis claimed two wickets each.

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