South Africa wins the second ODI of ICC Trophy

Colombo, September 13: Cricket at the Sinhalese Sports Club here touched similarly exciting heights on Friday as South Africa snatched a slim two-wicket victory over West Indies off the last ball of the match.

The Proteas had been penalised for bowling slowly and had one over less for the chase, which meant they had to get 239 in 49 overs.

With one-day specialist Jonty Rhodes and Boeta Dipenaar firmly established at the crease and with runs coming in a cascade from the blades of both, South Africa were on their way.

But then West Indian skipper Carl Hooper sent down an inspired spell of off-spin bowling to dislodge both the set batsmen within the space of five balls to induce excitement into the encounter.

Mark Boucher and Lance Klusener kept getting the singles but found it extremely hard to reach the fence. The required rate kept climbing and even 'Zulu' caved in. Like Rhodes and Dipenaar earlier, even Klusener and Boucher fell in quick succession to send shivers down the spine of the South Africans.

Thirteen were needed from the last over and captain Shaun Pollock put things back on track with a straight six off the bowling of Merv Dillon.

But even Pollock could not complete the task and fell with just two balls left. At that stage, Dillon committed the ultimate sin of bowling a wide, and to rub salt into the wounds of the West Indian players, Nicky Boje and Alan Dawson also ran a bye to level the scores with one ball still to go.

Alan Dawson then got a thick edge to the last delivery that went through the vacant slip region to ensure a thrilling win for the South Africans.