In-form Proteas looking to secure series against West Indies in Pretoria
South Africa v West Indies | 2nd T20I | Thursday 29th January | SuperSport Park, Centurion | 6:00pm
This is a three-game series arranged primarily as a warm-up ahead of the World Cup. South Africa has a 1-0 series lead after a comfortable nine wicket win in the opener in Paarl on Tuesday night.
The West Indies have won three of the last five T20Is between the two side – crucially though South Africa won the most recent game.
South Africa are the fifth ranked side in T20I while the West Indies are seventh.
For the first game of the series South Africa rested most of the stars who played in the SA20 final on Sunday. Those players, including Quinton de Kock, Marco Jansen and Tristan Stubbs are expected to feature on Thursday.
South Africa made a couple of late additions to the squad for the three-game series with Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Ethan Bosch drafted into the mix ahead of the series opener on Tuesday. Pretorius was immediately pressed into action as he made a solid 44 from 28 balls at the top of the order.
George Linde, who took three for 25 was named Man of the Match in the first game of the series.
As much as South Africa pride themselves on the quality and depth of their all-round talent, it is the West Indies who have three allrounders in the ICC’s top 20 while South Africa has none. Roston Chase is at three, Romario Shepherd at seven and Jason Holder at 15.
South Africa’s Dewald Brevis has hit more sixes than fours in T20I cricket. He has cleared the rope 39 times compared with the 27 times he has hit fours. Those boundaries come from just 19 innings.
Venue: SuperSport Park, Centurion
The West Indies have played two T20Is at SuperSport Park, winning one and losing the other.
South Africa’s T20I record at SuperSport Park is a poor one, they have lost nine times at the ground at won seven.
SuperSport Park is a venue where sides prefer to chase – this has been the option taken in 11 of the 16 T20Is at the ground.
Despite the preference of teams winning the toss to chase, there is nothing in it in terms of results with eight wins for the chasing side and eight for the setting side.
No game at SuperSport Park has ever ended as a No Result.
The average first innings score at the ground is 176.
The highest score made at the ground was scored by South Africa in a game against the West Indies in 2023 when they scored a massive 259 for four in 18.5 overs. That innings was powered by a knock of 100 from 44 balls from Quinton De Kock.
South Africa’s score, above, was also the highest successful chase at the ground.
Weather:
It doesn’t bode well for cricket at Centurion on Thursday with the forecast suggesting late-afternoon thundershowers between 5pm and 10pm. Temperatures will cool from a high of 34 degrees down to a pleasant 22 during the evening. Sadly, however there is a 60% chance of precipitation with potential gusty winds during storms.
Form (most recent game first):
South Africa: W, L, A, L, W
West Indies: L, W, L, L, L.
Key player:
South Africa, Aiden Markram: The Proteas captain has struck a rich vein of form, and he was imperious in Tuesday night’s win as he stroked a fluent and undefeated 86 from 47 balls. Markram’s last two knocks in SA were scores of 108 and 66. Able to bat anywhere in the top order, Markram is a complete T20I player and with a strike rate of 145.49 and a T20I average of 30.79 he can create momentum from ball one.
West Indies, Sherfane Rutherford: The West Indies allrounder was in imperious form during SA20 and on Thursday he returns to Centurion where he starred for the Pretoria Capitals. In SA20 Rutherford batted at six, while in the open game against South Africa he was in as high as four. It was his PC skipper Keshav Maharaj who dismissed him on Tuesday for just six, and he will be wanting to put that behind him and return to the free-scoring form that saw him finish SA20 as its fourth highest scorer with 334 runs at an average of 66.8 and a strike rate of 165.35.
Verdict: South Africa
The Proteas are settled and they are packed with players who have hit form at the right time. Markram, De Kock, Rickelton and Brevis were all in the top five scorers in SA20 while the likes of Anrich Nortje and Marco Jansen were instrumental in securing the title for SEC. Rain may well affect this game but expect the Proteas to push hard for the win to secure the series.
