Quinton de Kock’s century exploded off the bat, and Ryan Rickelton’s 50 was a jolly easy affair which powered South Africa to a comfy 7 wicket win over the West Indies in the 2nd T20I at Supersport Park in Centurion on Thursday. De Kock absolutely smashed a career best 115 off just 49 balls, while Rickelton chipped in with an unbeaten 77 off 36 balls – those two just made it look easy as South Africa chased down 222 with no trouble at all, reaching the target in only 17.3 overs & all but clinching the T20I series with just one game left to play. Shimron Hetmyer’s 75 off 42 balls pretty much set the West Indies on their way, and Sherfane Rutherford’s 57 off 24 balls just added to the West Indies’ already impressive tally of 221/4 against the Proteas in the series decider. Hetmyer’s knock was peppered with an 8, and he hit 3 sixes, and Rutherford’s innings was a real display of power, with 5 fours and 4 sixes – & that really helped West Indies post a formidable total.
Apart from Hetmyer and Rutherford, West Indies opening batter Brandon King had a pretty big say in the game with 49 off 30 balls – he really came close to claiming a very well-deserved half-century. Shai Hope and Rovman Powell didn’t really get going with the bat, though, managing just four and two runs respectively.
The star of the show for South Africa was left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj, who took two wickets but more impressively gave away only 22 runs in four overs with his economical bowling – Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen chipped in with a wicket each from the pace department.
When it was their turn to bat, top Proteas batsman Aiden Markram fell pretty early for 15. That’s when De Kock and Rickelton took over, putting on an epic 162-run partnership for the 2nd wicket.
After De Kock got sent back to the pavilion the job of getting the Proteas home was left to Rickelton and he really went for it, taking a handful of risks against the West Indies bowlers & just managed to get his team across the line in the 18th over.
For the West Indies team, the one guy who made any impact with the ball was Akeal Hosein taking two wickets while Matthew Forde also managed to pick up a wicket.
The final scores look like this: West Indies 221/4 in 20 overs (Shimron Hetmyer 75, Sherfane Rutherford 57; Keshav Maharaj 2/22) Vs South Africa 225/3 in 17.3 overs (Quinton de Kock 115, Ryan Rickelton 77; Akeal Hosein 2/41)