South Africa Beat 259 for 4 (De Kock 100, Hendricks 68, Powell 1-27). West Indies 258 for 5 (Charles 118, Mayers 51, Jansen 3-52) through six gates
Quinton de Kock’s first T20I hundred – and joint sixth fastest in the 43-ball format – helped South Africa complete the most successful chase in T20Is. De Kock’s knock innings came in the second half of a running festival on a belter of a pitch at SuperSport Park. A total of 517 runs were scored, the most in a T20 game, including 35 sixes, the most in a T20 international and two fewer than most in a T20 match. Johnson Charles was responsible for 11 of those sixes as he blasted his way to the second fastest T20I Century and fastest after a West Indian as they achieved their highest score in that format. In the end it wasn’t enough.
It was a tough day for bowlers on both sides who struggled to get their length just right. Only Kagiso Rabada conceded an over in under ten runs and there was poor discipline from both sides, particularly from the West Indies. They bowled 10 wides and a no-ball compared to South Africa’s four wides and could see that as an important difference in the bottom line.
The series decision will be held around 40 kilometers away at the Wanderers on Tuesday.
Charles and Mayers carry out demolition work
Brandon King’s early release resolved in a footnote when Kyle Mayers and Charles got together for a power-hitting demonstration that dismantled the home attack. Marco Jansen’s opening over cost 20 while Charles was shot offside, and Sisanda Magala’s first over went 21 runs thanks to a merciless Mayer. He hit the biggest six of the innings when he sent Sisanda Magala 114 yards across the midwicket, carrying the ball over the hospitality suite rooftops into the practice nets. Charles got his fifty off 23 balls when he hit Tabraiz Shamsi via a square leg, Mayers followed with a 24-ball fifty and also brought up his milestone against Shamsi.
West Indies were 62-1 on the power play and 137-1 after the first 10 overs, which was their fastest start in a T20I. The opening games were separated by early in the 11th when Mayers misread a deduction from Jansen, but by then they had shared the third-highest standing for the West Indies in T20I cricket – and all three have come against South Africa – and plundered 135 runs in 58 balls at a scoring rate of almost 14 runs and overs.
The slaughter continues
Charles was 18 runs away from his century when both Mayers and Nicholas Pooran fell to Jansen, but he was undeterred. He sent Kagiso Rabada for a six-over square leg, then hit a full toss-over point from Magala for a four and achieved his century with a drive-over extra cover. Jansen was brought back and Charles sent him for Sixes Over Extra Cover and Long Off and then Fours Through Fine Leg before being bowled by a Yorker he appeared to have kept away but dripped onto his stumps. Charles hit 73 of his 118 runs on legside, including eight of his 11 sixes, and when he was bowled West Indies had six overs to go.
Johnson Charles’ 39-ball hundred ended in vain for West Indies•AFP/Getty Images
guard the goal
Romario Shepherd picked up where Charles left off when he flicked a Parnell Full Toss off his pads for his first boundary. He then pocketed in Magala and picked up two sixes from his third over, prompting Aiden Markram to bring Rabada back. He wasn’t spared either as Shepherd and Rovman Powell scored 18 runs of his final over. Magala returned to deliver the last and couldn’t find his Yorker. His full throws were slammed over the midwicket and long-on as West Indies scored 79 runs from their last six overs. Shepherd was undefeated on 41 of 18 balls and Magala ended up with the sixth-leading T20I figures.
De Kock and SA break records
There is probably no better racquet to start a record chase than de Kock and he responded exactly as South Africa would have liked. He started with back-to-back fours ahead of Akeal Hosein before hitting three back-to-back sixes against Sheldon Cottrell in an over-the-cost 29. De Kock was then dropped to 32 when he tried to sweep Hosein backwards and got a thin edge, but Nicholas Pooran couldn’t hold on and he went on to make West Indies pay. In that over, South Africa reached the fastest fifty of a Full Member team in T20Is, and de Kock knocked Hosein over the head for six and then two consecutive fours.
De Kock then scored South Africa’s fastest 15-ball T20I 50. In doing so, South Africa broke the record for most runs by a full member team in a power play – 102 – and fastest hundred by a full member in T20Is. They scored the most runs in the first 10 overs of a men’s T20I – 149 – and the 152-run tie between de Kock and Reeza Hendricks was South Africa’s fourth-highest of all time. De Kock got his hundreds past on the 11th with a single.
Hendricks helps himself
With 46 runs from 21 balls in the first wicket standings, it seems unfair to call Hendrick’s role only a supporting actor and he soon had a chance to take center stage. After de Kock’s sacking, Hendricks scored his first six when he sent Odean Smith via extra coverage and brought his half-century from 22 balls. It was his fiftieth in his last seven T20I innings and he was determined to switch gears from there. He scored 16 runs from the next five balls he faced, including a ball for six from Powell, before towering over a slower bouncer and falling behind. South Africa still needed 66 runs of 44 balls at that point.
Markram and Klaasen take it home with them
West Indies pulled things back a bit after seeing Hendricks’ back. There were only two lines between the 14th and 16th ends and David Miller was caught at the long line before Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen came together to end things. Markram shattered Raymon Reifer’s numbers when he hit 17 runs from his fourth over, including a six-over long-on, and Klaasen took back-to-back fours from Jason Holder to drop the question rate to less than a run-a-ball bring. South Africa won with seven deliveries remaining.
Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s correspondent for South Africa and women’s cricket