Same pitch, same XI; just what clicked for South Africa?

If a definition of insanity is to ask the same question and expect a different answer, South Africa went mad in Grenada on Sunday. What did they think they were doing, having been smashed by eight wickets with five overs to spare in the first T20I on Saturday - not only at the same ground but on the same pitch - sending an unchanged XI into the fray?

It seemed an odd decision that yielded an inexplicable result: South Africa won by 16 runs. How could it be that none of the players who sat out on Saturday merited inclusion on Sunday, despite the first-choice side having been outplayed in all departments? How could it be that the same combination that had crashed and burned 24 hours earlier performed demonstrably better, against the same set of opponents in identical conditions, a day later?

Please explain, Reeza Hendricks? "We had good chats on how to come up with better plans, and I think the bowlers executed very well," Hendricks told an online press conference. Did the conditions change much? "The ball was stopping with the spinners and turning quite a bit." In his television interview, Temba Bavuma offered a big picture view: "The guys knew they would have to be brave."

Closer to the truth, of course, is that no-one can say why Sunday's game was so different from Saturday's. Welcome, pilgrim, to what remains the least predictable format. Once captains, coaches and - most importantly - analysts figure out how to ensure T20 success, the mystery and intrigue and sheer fun will disappear and we'll have to endure the dullness that pervades most of the other flavour of white-ball cricket. Those who despise the T20 version do so chiefly because, as yet, it doesn't follow the script they know by heart. And so they look silly when their prognostication is shown up for the piffle it is.

A special place in purgatory surely is reserved for the miseries who refuse to enjoy a game of cricket for what it is and not what they say it should be. Sunday's match was exactly that: a thing to marvel at, regardless of which team you supported or which narrative you said would prevail.

South Africa's top three of Hendricks, Quinton de Kock and Bavuma scored almost 70% of their total in an innings in which only Tabraiz Shamsi and Lungi Ngidi did not bat. Kevin Sinclair was the lone West Indian bowler to keep the damage to under a run a ball, but Obed McCoy did more than his bit by dismissing David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen and George Linde to claim a career-best 3/25.

South Africa's 166/7 - just six more then they mustered on Saturday - didn't look nearly enough. And when West Indies reached 53/2 in their powerplay it seemed the contest was dead in the water. But in the next six overs only 23 runs were scored and three wickets fell. All of those overs were bowled by Linde and Shamsi.

Kieron Pollard's arrival in a sun hat and what looked like an expensive gold watch must have made his departure after facing four balls - via a slog-sweep off Shamsi that Hendricks swooped on to catch low near the midwicket fence - more than a little embarrassing for the men in maroon. Klaasen was in the same fielding position four balls after that to pluck a complicated catch out of the sun, then the shade, to earn Andre Russell's wicket for Linde.

The Windies needed 36 off the last over to win, and when Fabian Allen launched two big blows off Lungi Ngidi's first couple of deliveries it seemed a miracle might be in the offing. But, not before time, we were all out of surprises. That is, until the series - and with it the madness - resumes on Tuesday.