Samuels happy to have coped with pressure

The West Indies needed a relatively small target to beat South Africa in their World Twenty20 group match, and nearly messed it up at the end but for a calm innings from veteran Marlon Samuels.

The all-rounder scored 43 of the 123 runs required, as the Proteas took a flurry of wickets at the end and made sure the game dragged into the final over. But the Windies kept their nerve to win by three wickets and advance to the semi-finals.

Samuels said after the match, which they won with just two balls to spare: "On a day like today, on a slow track, it was always going to be a nail-biter, a close game.

"It's very good that we can keep our nerve and bring it home because we might end up in the same situation again, so it's good that we can carry home games under pressure as well."

Of his own batting, Samuels knew he needed to be calm as the track was a tricky one, and he adjusted his game from the swashbuckling innings he'd played against England a few days prior.

He added: "If you see the first game against England, we got a good start, so I could always go there and express myself and play my shots and play the game that I like to play.

"Today, the wicket was on the slower side, [and we had lost] early wickets, so it called for me to change my game, to try and bat right down to the end.

"This batting line-up, I have two roles. One where, when the openers get a good start, I go there and express myself, and [if we] get a slow start, early wickets, I'll go there and try to build up an innings with whichever partner that is there, and try to build something and [take] the game as far as possible."

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