West Indies completed a three-wicket win against South Africa to take a 1-0 lead in their three-match Twenty20 International series, thanks to new captain Rovman Powell who started his reign with a bang on Saturday.
Powell slugged one four and five sixes in the top score of 43 not out from 18 balls, holding his nerve in the closing overs, to lead a successful chase of 132 in a contest reduced to 11 overs-a-side because of adverse weather at Centurion Park.
The 29-year-old Jamaican entered the fray with West Indies halfway to their target in the fifth over on 66 for three and proceeded to dominate the remainder of the match with his explosive batting that earned him the Player-of-the Match award.
“After the disappointment of the (preceding) One-day Internationals the way I got out, I had an honest talk with myself, I decided that I was just going to try to bat through the tough periods, and it worked out,” Powell said after play.
Opener Brandon King gave the chase a flying start with two fours and two sixes in 23 off only eight balls and enabled West Indies to reach 46 for two after the three-over Power Play.
After King was bowled behind his back, moving too far inside the line to swing a full toss from burly pacer Sisanda Magala in the third over, two-time T20I World Cup-winning batsman Johnson Charles kept West Indies on track.
When Charles was caught on the long-on boundary off unorthodox left-arm spinner Tabraiz Shamsi in the sixth over for 28 off 14 balls that included one six and three fours, the visitors needed 56 from 32 balls.
Powell took charge of the chase, taking his only four and three sixes off left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin in the eighth over, reducing the equation to 20 from the last 18 balls – but three wickets – two to Magala off successive balls in the penultimate over – added to the drama.
Powell kept his composure and formalized the result with three balls remaining when he swung left-arm pacer Wayne Parnell over square leg for six off the second ball of the final over and tickled the next delivery into leg-side for a single.
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