KINGSTON: West Indies’ stand-in captain Brandon King scored a brilliant half-century, coupled with a dominant bowling performance that guided the home team to a 28-run victory over South Africa in the first T20I at Sabina Park on Thursday.
After being invited to bat first, King gave West Indies a flying start with his belligerent hitting. He lost his opening partner Johnson Charles (1) in the fourth over.
However, he continued the onslaught during the 79-run partnership with Kyle Mayers, with King scoring the bulk of runs.
The skipper was dismissed by Andile Phehlukwayo after scoring 79 runs from 45 balls with the help of six sixes and six boundaries.
South African bowler made an amazing comeback after King’s wicket, restricting West Indies to 175-8 in their 20 overs.
Mayers (34) and Roston Chase (32*) remained the only batters other than King to score in double figures.
For South Africa, Phehlukwayo and Ottneil Baartman claimed three wickets each.
In response, South Africa had a horrible start as they lost two wickets inside two overs with 11 runs on the board.
Reeza Hendricks raised a 42-run stand with Rassie van der Dussen (17) for the fourth wicket, however, Gudakesh Motie bowled a two-wicket over to reduce South Africa to 78-5 in 10.5 overs.
Hendricks waged a lone war as wickets kept falling from the other end. He played a gutsy 87-run knock from 51 balls, featuring six boundaries and six sixes, before falling in the final over.
Matthew Forde picked two wickets in the last over to book South Africa for 147 runs, registering a comfortable 28-run win.
Forde and Moties picked three wickets each while Obed McCoy grabbed two.
“I know the conditions well, which was an advantage,” said King, who was playing at his home Sabina Park ground.
“We knew we had to go hard against the new ball as it’d get tougher later. We had 200-220 in mind as we had wickets in hand but fell short on a tough pitch.”
The second and third games of the series are also being played in Kingston on Saturday and Sunday ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 hosted by the West Indies and the United States which starts on June 1.
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