By Patrick Compton.
David Miller slammed 48 off 22 balls and added 47 in 13 balls for the seventh wicket with Sisanda Magala to take South Africa to a respectable 131 for eight in the first KFC T20I against the West Indies at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Saturday.
The match was reduced to 11 overs per side after persistent rain delayed the start of the game for two hours with the action only starting at 4pm.
The West Indies won the toss and inserted the Proteas who lost their talisman, Quinton de Kock, to the first ball of the innings as he holed out to left-arm spinner Akeal Hosain.
Reeza Hendricks, Rilee Rossouw and Aiden Markram all got starts but it was the partnership between Miller and Magala that gave the Proteas a late turbo boost after they had fallen to 79 for six wickets in the ninth over.
With most batsmen opting for agricultural strokes, given the shortness of the innings, it was Miller who played a series of “proper” cricket shots, driving off the front and back foot as well as hooking, pulling and clipping off his legs as he struck four fours and three sixes. Magala, using his immense power, smashed two sixes and a four in his five-ball innings that realised 18 runs.
For the West Indies, Sheldon Cottrell (2/31 off three overs) and Odean Smith (2/27 off two overs) grabbed a brace of wickets apiece.
SOUTH AFRICA: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Rilee Rossouw, Aiden Markram (capt), Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Sisanda Magala, Bjorn Fortuin, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi
WEST INDIES: Kyle Mayers, Brandon King, Johnson Charles, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Rovman Powell (capt), Roston Chase, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, Sheldon Cottrell, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph.