Captain Aiden Markram top-scored for the SA team with 86 runs.
South Africa started their build-up to next month’s T20 World Cup in winning fashion on Tuesday night, earning a nine-wicket victory over West Indies in their T20 International series opener in Paarl.
Set a target of 174 runs to win, the SA team’s top-order took control as they coasted to 176/1 with 13 balls to spare.
Proteas captain Aiden Markram and fellow opener Lhuan-dré Pretorius shared 83 runs for the first wicket before Pretorius was caught by Jason Holder at deep midwicket off a Roston Chase delivery. He contributed 44 off 28.
After Pretorius was removed, Ryan Rickelton and Markram combined in an unbeaten 93-run stand for the second wicket.
Markram finished on 86 not out off 47 and Rickelton hit 40 off 32 to carry the hosts to a convincing victory.
“It was a nice night out and the boys looked good in all departments,” Markram said after the game.
West Indies innings
Earlier, after losing the toss and being sent in to bat, the West Indies team combined well, with six of their top seven batters reaching double figures.
They were led by middle-order batter Shumron Hetmeyr, who hit 48 runs off 32 balls, but while they put up a solid fight they ultimately fell short after reaching 173/7.
George Linde led the Proteas attack, taking 3/25 as he tore through the West Indies middle-order, while fellow spinner Keshav Maharaj grabbed 2/44 and seamer Corbin Bosch returned 2/35 after putting the top-order under pressure.
“Kudos to South Africa. They restricted us to a below-par total. We wanted to get 190 initially, but we didn’t have big partnerships,” Chase said.
“Then we were poor in the powerplay with the ball and they knocked it around with ease.”
South Africa will aim to wrap up a series victory in the second of three matches against West Indies in Centurion on Thursday.
