South Africa Made a great start to their T20I series against west indiesMarching to a nine-wicket win in the opening match at Boland Park, Paarl on Tuesday. Captain Aiden Markram’s composed but explosive unbeaten innings helped the hosts chase down the target of 174 runs with two overs to spare.
The emphatic win gave South Africa an early 1–0 lead in the three-match series and underlined their batting depth and bowling discipline on home soil.
West Indies post competitive score after middle-order resistance
South Africa won the toss and chose to bowl while batting first. West Indies scored 173 runs for 7 wickets in 20 overs.. This innings was built around a fluent innings from Shimron Hetmyer, who played a brilliant inning of 48 runs in 32 balls with the help of 4 fours and 3 sixes.
The early momentum came from Brandon King, who hit a quickfire 27 off 16 balls, but regular wickets prevented the visitors from taking full advantage of the start. Contributions from Roston Chase (22) and Rovman Powell (29 not out) helped West Indies reach a competitive total on a good batting surface.
South Africa’s bowlers displayed a controlled performance, with spin playing an important role in the middle overs. George Linde was at the forefront and took three important wickets to halt West Indies’ momentum.
Player of the match: George Linde#Cricket #SAvWI #1st t20i pic.twitter.com/zqivO1STce
– CricketTimes.com (@CricketTimesHQ) 28 January 2026
Keshav Maharaj also took two wickets, while Corbin Bosch made crucial breakthroughs at the top.
Aiden Markram, Luan-Dre Pretorius and Ryan Rickelton set up record win for South Africa
South Africa’s response as young opening batsman started with intent luan-dre pretorius Attacked the bowlers. Pretorius played a confident inning of 44 off 28 balls and stitched a quickfire 83-run partnership with Markram, keeping the hosts firmly in control during the powerplay.
Although Pretorius fell attempting to accelerate, the damage had already been done, leaving South Africa well ahead of the required run rate.
From there, Markram, along with wicketkeeper-batsman Ryan Rickelton, took South Africa home without any trouble. The pair made an unbroken partnership of 93 runs, silencing the West Indies bowling attack.
Markram was in tremendous form, remaining unbeaten on 86 runs in just 47 balls with the help of nine fours and three sixes. Rickelton provided excellent support with an unbeaten 40 off 32 balls, ensuring there were no late innings.
South Africa registered their biggest T20I win in terms of wickets against West Indies by scoring 176 runs for 1 wicket in just 17.5 overs.
South Africa defeated West Indies by 9 wickets #Cricket #SAvWI #1st t20i pic.twitter.com/d1D9prLLHe
– CricketTimes.com (@CricketTimesHQ) 28 January 2026
