WI win First T20 international against South Africa

West Indies 132 for 7 (Powell 43*, Magala 3-21) beat South Africa 131 for 8 (Miller 48, Smith 2-21) by three wickets

Brandon King’s eight-ball 23 gave WI a good start and Johnson Charles’ 14-ball 28 built on that but it was Powell who ensured West Indies got over the line.

They needed 46 runs off 24 balls when Powell took 23 runs off Bjorn Fortuin’s second over, to bring the required run-rate down to seven an over for the last three overs. He held his nerve when Sisanda Magala took two wickets in two balls at the other end to leave West Indies needing nine off the last over. Fittingly, Powell hit the winning runs with three balls to spare.

Rovman Powell, in his first match as full time West Indies T20I captain, led his team to victory in a shortened but tense affair in Centurion.

After persistent rain delayed the start of the game by two hours and then reduced it to 11 overs a side, West Indies opted to put South Africa in and were mostly sharp in the field but still found themselves chasing a steep target of 132.