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In the second match of the World Championship of Legends (WCL) 2025 held at Edgbaston in Birmingham, South Africa Champions started their campaign with a win. In the rain-reduced contest, South Africa captain AB de Villiers emerged victorious at the toss and elected to bowl first. Pacer Hardus Viljoen stepped up and delivered the first breakthrough to South Africa in the form of West Indies skipper Chris Gayle, who could score only two runs after consuming six deliveries. Gayle’s opening ally Dwayne Smith also followed him to the dugout in the fifth over after amassing only seven off 11.
Smith became the victim of spinner Aaron Phangiso, who also got the better of Kieron Pollard, who fell the next delivery after the opener’s wicket. Lendl Simmons and Chadwick Walton stepped up in the crunch situation and played the knocks of 28 (21) and 27* (21) respectively. Riding on their innings, South Africa allowed West Indies Champions to post a total of 80/5 in their 11 overs.
In the run chase, South Africa Champions lost their opener Richard Levi, who lost his battle to Sheldon Cottrell after scoring five. In the next over of the innings, Suleimann Benn got rid of AB de Villiers, who hoarded only three runs off four balls. After the loss of two quick wickets, Hashim Amla and Sarel Erwee didn’t lose hope and kept South Africa in the chase. Both built a 42-run partnership for the third wicket. West Indies made a comeback in the match after dismissing both settled batters on consecutive deliveries. Amla lost his wicket after scoring 15 off 18 while Erwee chipped in with 27 off 18.
Bowl-out delivered the outcome of the match
In the final over, the scores of the two teams got level as Fidel Edwards held his nerves and defended nine runs successfully. The pacer dismissed JJ Smuts and Morne van Wyk on consecutive balls to bring his team back in the match.
However, in the bowl-out contest, the Protea side held their nerves and emerged triumphant. JJ Smuts and Watyne Parnell hit the stumps for South Africa and guided their side to the victory by 2-0 margin.
