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Cape Town - Proteas hero Heinrich Klaasen says the umpires deserve massive credit for the thrilling T20I that took place at Centurion.
The match will be remembered for Klaasen's thrilling innings of 69 off 30 (7x6, 3x4), but the weather undoubtedly played its part in a truly epic encounter.
Set 189 for victory, the Proteas batsmen took to the field and, almost immediately, the rain started coming down.
It meant that skipper JP Duminy, from the first ball he faced, was trying to get his side above the Duckworth/Lewis score.
As a result, there was little time to get in and while Duminy hit his first ball for four, Klaasen hit his second for six.
The trend of chasing Duckworth/Lewis in the anticipation of an imminent decision to leave the field continued for a number of overs, but umpires Bongani Jele and Allahudien Paleker kept the players out on the field as the rain fell.
The wet weather stopped in the sixth over, but even when it continued later in the innings, the umpires stayed out in the middle.
"Credit must go to the umpires for keeping us on the field. There were some stages were it actually drizzled quite hard," Klaasen said.
"In the first 5 overs we actually tried to keep up with the Duckworth/Lewis. Luckily in the 6th over the rain stopped."
The 26-year-old half-jokingly added that chasing the Duckworth/Lewis total every over, as was the case at the beginning of the South African innings, helped in the overall run chase.
"The way we batted tonight is a good way to chase the total ... to keep up with Duckworth/Lewis is very important. That gave us small targets," he said.
"Maybe it's something to think about moving forward."
