WI vs. SA 1st T20I: West Indies Defeats South Africa by Seven Wickets in Series Opener

The West Indies grabbed a 1-0 lead in their three-match series against South Africa on Friday, winning the first T20I by seven wickets. Nicholas Pooran needed just 26 balls to get to 65 from 26 balls to ease the West Indies to a seven-wicket Twenty20 win over South Africa as the home side took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.not out, as the home team dominated the run chase.

The Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, Trinidad & Tobago was the venue for the Friday fixture. Heavy rain caused a delay to the scheduled start, but once the game got underway, conditions improved quickly.

Inserted, South Africa were off to a ragged start, 42-5 after eight overs. Patrick Kruger and Tristan Stubbs joined forces to pull them all the way out of trouble, adding 71 for the sixth wicket in just over eight overs. Kruger fell at last for 44, Matthew Forde’s third and final wicket. Forde took 3-27 in his four overs, and was instrumental in restricting the Protease early on in their innings.

Kruger and Stubbs’s 71-run partnership was South Africa’s highest for the 6th wicket in T20Is, breaking the record of 69 between Mark Boucher and Albie Morkel

Stubbs went on to smash 76, including three maximums. His partnership with Bjorn Fortuin yielded 60, of which Fortuin contributed 11. That broke the South African seventh wicket partnership record of 57 between Shaun Pollock and Albie Morkel.

The home team’s response was explosive. New man Alick Athanaze and Shai Hope combined for 84 runs off the first eight overs before the Dominican was dismissed for 40 off 36 balls. Pooran’s introduction served to maintain the scoring rate. Himself and Hope put on a further 52 from just 33 legal deliveries. Hope departed with the score 138- in the 14th over. And though captain Rovman Powell might have been expected to continue the big hitting, he was content to hold a watching brief, as Pooran amassed 65 hit seven sixes and two fours on his way to a massive unbeaten match-winning 65.

There were still 13 balls remaining when Roston Chase hit the winning boundary.

“I just felt like Shai and Alick put South Africa under pressure in the powerplay,” said Pooran. “At the 10-over mark, we knew it was a better wicket and my job was simple and I just had to take on my match-ups. With rain around, the first 10 overs were tricky when South Africa batted. Stubbs and Kruger played well, but we knew the wicket would get better.”

The West Indies opted to field a strong side against the team that eliminated them from this year’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, as they aim to build towards World Cup 2026 in India and Sri Lanka.

But Powell said the focus needed to remain on the shorter term.

“To be honest, a lot of talk is around the next T20 World Cup but we have to play one game at a time and see different players. We have to stay in the process and the next World Cup is too far away for us,” he said.

The second game in the series will be held at the same venue on Sunday

(TF)