The South African team has defeated the West Indies by six wickets in a record-breaking run-fest in Centurion, completing the greatest successful chase in T20 cricket of 259
South Africa beat West Indies’ 258-5 total with seven balls remaining by scoring 259-4 in 18.5 overs thanks to Quinton de Kock’s 100 off 44, which included fifty and a hundred runs in just 15 and 43 balls, respectively.
With 517 runs scored during a fantastic contest at SuperSport Park, it is the highest-scoring T20 cricket match in history.
In men’s T20s, Johnson Charles (118 off 46) had earlier broken Chris Gayle’s West Indies record of 47 balls against England during the 2016 T20 World Cup in India with a century in just 39 balls.
West Indies’ best T20 international total came from Charles’ 11 sixes and 10 fours, together with Kyle Mayers’ 51 off 27 balls and Romario Shepherd’s unbeaten 41 off 18
That score, however, turned out to be unsatisfactory as De Kock and Reeza Hendricks (68 off 28) put up 152 runs in only 11 overs for the first wicket before Aiden Markram (38 not out off 21) and Heinrich Klaasen (16 not out off 7) blazed the Proteas to an astounding victory.
De Kock stated: “I told Reeza later that we had done something unique out there. I had been searching for a T20 century for a long, so to get one at my home field was unique.”
At the midway point of the chase, South Africa was 149-0 after 10 overs, with opener De Kock on 99 from 41 balls and opening partner Hendricks still in the game after five overs with a score of 45 not out.
Rilee Rossouw (16 off 4) went in the next over after hitting two sixes and a four, De Kock top-edged behind in the eleventh over immediately after reaching his first T20I century, Hendricks left in the thirteenth as West Indies started to mount a comeback.
The captain of the West Indies commented, “It was a chaotic and tough, but exciting game. We believed we had accomplished enough when we went outside to bowl. We failed to reply as they increased the pressure starting with ball one.”
In the men’s T20 international, West Indies’ 22 sixes matched the previous high set by Afghanistan against Ireland in Dehradun in 2019
As a result of South Africa and West Indies’ tie in the best-of-three series, tomorrow’s Tuesday encounter in Johannesburg will serve as the series deciding game.
