West Indies defeat South Africa in the opener of the T20 series by 8 wickets and 30 balls to spare to take the series lead by 1-0 at St. George’s on Saturday.
West Indies chased down the target of 160 in 15 overs and 8 wickets in hand. With the opener in a solid mood, South African bowlers could not do much as 160 never looked enough with Evin Lewis smashing everyone.
Batting first, the visitors have hopes to score more than 160. The first over went for only four runs and the second over from Jason Holder got 11 runs.
The third over from Kevin Sinclair leaked 17 runs to give momentum to SA batsmen. Soon after that, Reeza Hendricks was picked up by Fabien Allen but Quinton de Kock kept marching on.
SA ended their powerplay on 53/1 and they were looking for more. However, the left-hander lost his wicket to Andre Russel in the seventh over after hitting him for a maximum, the wicket impacted the run-rate of SA.
After losing the wicket of de Kock, SA finds it difficult to get their rhythm back. Meanwhile, a short rain break interrupted the play in the seventh and eighth over.
Temba Bavuma’s conscious start meant that SA felt the impact of wickets more than usual. The skipper could not find anything near his bat and yet lost his wicket in the eleventh over after scoring 22 off 20 balls, SA struggling on 95.
Hienrich Klaasen only managed to score 7 runs while David Miller scored 9. Rassie van der Dussen tried to up the ante but with no support from the other end, SA ended on 160/6 in the allotted overs.
West Indian openers put a solid power show while chasing, Andre Fletcher lost his wicket in the seventh over and WI required 77 runs in the remaining 12.5 overs.
Lewis hit a maximum to George Linde on the fifth ball to get some momentum and there was no coming back after then.
Lewis then smashed two boundaries and a six in the second over of Kagiso Rabada to get on the driving seat. The fourth over from Lungi Ngidi leaked as many as 20 runs to give SA a moment to think about their defense.
West Indies completely marched on SA as they reached 73 for no loss at the end of powerplay but Andre Fletcher lost his wicket in a mix-up after the seventh over.
No bowler escaped the wrath of Lewis, he took apart Rabada and also went after Ngidi. Lewis completed his half-century in only 22 balls off Ngidi, Ngidi leaked 31 runs in his first two overs.
Anrich Nortje started well after conceding only 10 runs in his first two overs. Meanwhile, Tabraiz Shamsi got hold of Chris Gayle in the 10th over.
Gayle did not stay quiet for too long as Rezza Hendricks came into the attack and he gave him two sixes in an over. Tabraiz Shamsi got the better of Lewis in the 12th over when Miller took a blinder.
From there, Gayle and Andre Russel pumped WI to an easy victory by 8 wickets and 30 balls to spare.
Brief scores: South Africa 160/6 in 20 overs (Rassie van der Dussen 56*; Fabian Allen 2-18) lost to West Indies 161/2 in 15 overs (Evin Lewis 71) by eight wickets.