New West Indies captain Rovman Powell put on an impressive showing to lead his team to a three-wicket victory over South Africa in a rain-shortened first Twenty20 international at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Saturday.

Even though each team only had 11 overs, 263 runs and 15 wickets were scored in a fast-paced match.

Powell took over from Nicholas Pooran last month. He hit 43 runs without getting out off 18 balls as the West Indies beat South Africa’s score of 131-8 with three balls to spare.

He said that reducing the number of overs was good for a few of his players.

“A lot of the guys in the team are used to the T10 format,” he said.

“We know the ball travels so much here, so 130 was gettable.”

The West Indies got off to a fast start, scoring 84 for 4 in the first six overs. Opener Brandon King hit 23 runs off of eight balls, and Johnson Charles smashed 28 runs off of 14 balls.

During South Africa’s turn at bat, David Miller hit 48 runs off 22 balls.

Wickets were lost almost as quickly as boundaries were hit, but Miller hit four fours and three sixes to make sure that the team’s total was good enough to compete.

Together with a big fast bowler named Sisanda Magala, he hit 47 runs off of 13 balls.

Sheldon Cottrell, a fast left-arm bowler, took two wickets for seven runs in his first two overs. However, Miller and Magala scored 24 runs in the tenth over as they went on a rampage.

Magala’s unbeaten 18 off five balls included a four and two sixes.

Aiden Markram, the captain of South Africa, said that his team had a bad start with both the bat and the ball.

“To take it to the last over was a great effort from the bowlers,” he said.

Fast bowler Anrich Nortje got one wicket for 17 runs in three overs, and Magala got three wickets for 21 runs, including two in the next-to-last over.

But Bjorn Fortuin and Tabraiz Shamsi, who both spin, gave up a total of 69 runs in four overs.

On Sunday, both teams will be at the same place.

Photo by Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix