EAST LON­DON – Shai Hope launched his cap­tain­cy tenure with a 14th One-Day In­ter­na­tion­al hun­dred but West In­dies were forced to with­stand a re­mark­able cen­tu­ry from South Africa skip­per Tem­ba Bavu­ma be­fore eas­ing to a 48-run win in the sec­ond ODI in South Africa on Sat­ur­day.

The 29-year-old Hope punched a glit­ter­ing, un­beat­en 128, an in­nings which laid the foun­da­tion for his side’s im­pres­sive 335 for eight of their 50 overs – their high­est ODI to­tal in four years and high­est ever against South Africa.

In re­ply, the hosts coast­ed to 184 for two at the half-way mark, be­hind Bavu­ma’s 144 from 118 de­liv­er­ies with 11 fours and sev­en six­es, but then suf­fered col­lapse at the back end los­ing their last eight wick­ets for 103 runs, to be all out for 287 in the 42nd over.

Fast bowler Alzarri Joseph bounced back from a poor open­ing spell to fin­ish with three for 53 – in­clud­ing the key wick­et of Bavu­ma – while left-arm spin­ner Akeal Ho­sein snatched three for 59 from his 10 overs to haul West In­dies back in­to the con­test.

The vic­to­ry was on­ly the Caribbean side’s third ODI win on South African soil in their last 18 at­tempts over the last two decades, giv­ing them a 1-0 lead in the three-match se­ries, and leav­ing Tues­day’s fi­nal game as the se­ries de­cider af­ter Thurs­day’s open­er was rained off with­out a ball bowled.

“I think that Tem­ba played a bril­liant in­nings but catch­es win match­es,” said Hope, ad­judged Man-of-the-Match.

“We pret­ty much put our­selves un­der pres­sure there at the back end but that’s how it goes some­times. It’s just nice to see we could pull out a vic­to­ry in the end.”

West In­dies were hand­ed an ex­cel­lent start by left-han­der Kyle May­ers (36) and Bran­don King (30), the pair putting on 67 off 51 de­liv­er­ies.

May­ers struck five fours and two six­es off 26 balls while King count­ed four fours in a 29-ball knock, be­fore both per­ished as part of a 11-ball side which saw three wick­ets tum­ble for just four runs, to leave West In­dies stum­bling on 71 for three at the start of the 11th over.

Hope, in at num­ber four, played de­light­ful­ly from the out­set, the right-han­der fac­ing 115 de­liv­er­ies and belt­ing five fours and sev­en six­es.

He reached his fifty off 59 balls at the start of the 31st over be­fore ac­cel­er­at­ing to each triple fig­ures off just an­oth­er 45 de­liv­er­ies, with a sin­gle to deep square in the 47th over.

Along the way, he put on a crit­i­cal 86 for the fourth wick­et with Nicholas Pooran (39) who he re­placed as cap­tain, be­fore adding a fur­ther 80 for the fifth wick­et with Rov­man Pow­ell who blast­ed 46 from 49 balls with two fours and three six­es.

When Pow­ell played on to debu­tant seam­er Ger­ald Co­et­zee (3-57) in the 38th over, the in­nings was in need of im­pe­tus at 237 for five and Hope stepped up, in­spir­ing a 42-run, sixth wick­et part­ner­ship with all-rounder Ja­son Hold­er (15) and a 42-run, un­bro­ken ninth wick­et stand with Joseph (13 not out).

Fac­ing a re­quired run rate of 6.72, the Pro­teas were giv­en a fly­ing start by Bavu­ma and Quin­ton de Kock, the left-han­der punch­ing five fours and three six­es in a 26-ball cameo, as part of a stand worth 76 off 52 de­liv­er­ies.

When de Kock missed a de­fen­sive push and was lbw to medi­um pac­er Kyle May­ers in the ninth over, Bavu­ma held the chase to­geth­er, post­ing 47 for the sec­ond wick­et with debu­tant Ryan Rick­el­ton (14) and a fur­ther 61 for the third with an­oth­er debu­tant Tony de Zorzi (27).

Ho­sein then ripped through the mid­dle and in tan­dem with Joseph and pac­er Odean Smith, en­sured South Africa lost six wick­ets for 54 runs, the in­nings de­clin­ing to 238 for eight at the end of the 34th over.

Bavu­ma pro­duced a mas­ter­class when his side re­quired one, dom­i­nat­ing a 49-run, ninth wick­et stand with Lun­gi Ngi­di (12 not out) be­fore Joseph fi­nal­ly got him to glove a leg-side catch off a slow­er ball bounc­er in the 42nd over, to snuff out the late Pro­teas threat.

CMC

Scores:

WEST IN­DIES 335 for eight off 50 overs (Shai Hope 128 not out, Rov­man Pow­ell 46, Nicholas Pooran 39, Kyle May­ers 36, Bran­don King 30; Ger­ald Co­et­zee 3-57, Bjorn For­tu­in 2-57, Tabraiz Sham­si 2-62)

SOUTH AFRICA 287 all out off 41.4 overs (Tem­ba Bavu­ma 144, Quin­ton de Kock 48, Tony de Zorzi 27; Alzarri Joseph 3-53, Akeal Ho­sein 3-59).

West In­dies de­feat­ed South Africa by 48 runs.