Records tumble as De Kock leads Proteas’ victory charge

Quinton de Kock smashed a maiden T20 international century as the Proteas chased down a record target in a T20 international to beat the West Indies by six wickets and level the three-match series at Centurion on Sunday.

It was a day for records at SuperSport Park as memories of the famous 438 game against Australia at the Wanderers in 2006 came flooding back. On that day Herschelle Gibbs was the hero with an innings of 175, but on Sunday it was a collective effort with De Kock leading from the front striking nine fours and eight sixes in his 43-ball ton. 

The left-hander was devastating at the top of the order to put the Proteas in the driver’s seat as they went in pursuit of 259 for victory, the highest run chase in a T20 international.

The previous highest chase of 246/4 was held by Bulgaria against Serbia in June, 2022. The next best by a Test-playing nation was Australia who managed 245/5 against New Zealand in February 2018.

De Kock was the aggressor as he and Reeza Hendricks flayed the West Indies bowlers to all parts of the Pretoria venue, taking their team to 62 in the third over, before bringing up the team’s 100 in the final over of the power play, another record. 

He shared 152 with Hendricks before he was dismissed, caught by wicketkeeper Nicholas Pooran off Raymon Reifer before Rilee Rossouw, who struck 16 from four deliveries, was the second Proteas wicket to fall off the bowling of Odean Smith.

Hendricks would go on to strike 11 boundaries and two sixes to reach 68 off 28 balls before being caught by Pooran off Rovman Powell. David Miller struck a run a ball 10 before he was caught by Romario Shepheer off Jason Holder, as he tried to accelerate the scoring rate. 

Captain Aiden Markram (38 off 21) and Heinrich Klaassen (16 off 7) then steadied the ship to take their side home with seven deliveries to spare on a day that 517 runs were scored across both innings. 

Earlier, Johnson Charles took the Proteas bowlers to the cleaners in the highveld, striking the sixth-fastest ton in T20 internationals. The right-hander silenced the SuperSport Park crowd, finding the boundary on 21 occasions (10 fours and 11 sixes) on his way to 118 off just 46 deliveries, as the Windies recorded 258/5, their highest team total in a T20I encounter. 

They lost opener Brandon King for a single off Wayne Parnell, bringing Charles to the crease. He and Kyle Mayers looked to get the innings going with two boundaries to end the first over. 

They hit six more boundaries and two sixes to move the team total past 50 in the fifth over, before two more boundaries off Kagiso Rabada in the sixth over saw them close out the power play on 62. 

Both Mayers and Charles chalked up half-centuries to take the Caribbeans to 137 at the halfway mark in the innings, striking nine sixes and three fours in that four-over period. 

Marco Jansen struck back by grabbing two wickets, first dismissing Kyle Mayers (51) to break the 135-run second wicket stand with Charles, before accounting for Nicholas Pooran (2) with the score on 140 at the end of the 11th over. 

Charles continued the onslaught on the Proteas’ attack to bring up his maiden ton in T20 internationals off just 39 deliveries, adding 18 more runs to his total before he was Jansen’s third victim, with the score on 179/4. 

A late Romario Shepherd cameo, who hit a blistering 41 off 18 deliveries including a boundary and four sixes, coupled with 28 from Rovman Powell, took the Windies past 250. 

Jansen finished with 3/52 in his quota of four overs, and Parnell claimed 2/43 from his four.