South Africa successfully chased down a target of 259 against the West Indies at Centurion, setting a new T20I world record. South Africa and West Indies totalled 517 runs in the game, making it the highest runs aggregated in a T20I game.
South Africa completed a run chase of 259 with 7 balls to spare, riding on Quinton De Kock’s quickfire century, on a record-breaking evening when it showered sixes and fours, thrilling the crowd. De Kock (100 off 42 balls) and Reeza Hendricks (68 off 28 balls) compiled an opening partnership of 152 runs to build the chase for skipper Aiden Markram (38 not out off 21 balls) to carry the team home and tie the series 1-1.
South Africa outperformed the previous highest run-chases of 246/4 by Bulgaria over Serbia in 2022 and 245/5 by Australia against New Zealand in 2018. The previous highest for the Proteas was 212/3 against India in 2022.
South Africa successfully chased down a target of 259 against the West Indies at Centurion, setting a new T20 world record. South Africa and West Indies totaled 517 runs, becoming the first T20I teams to do so. The match also saw the most number of runs scored in all T20 cricket, including domestic games, surpassing the 515 runs recorded in Rawalpindi by Multan Sultans and Quetta Gladiators during the just-finished PSL.
South Africa and West Indies struck 81 boundaries in this game, breaking the previous T20 record of 78 boundaries between the Sultans and Gladiators earlier this month. South Africa and West Indies struck 35 sixes in total, the most for a T20I, surpassing the 33 sixes hit by Bulgaria and Serbia in 2022. West Indies struck 22 sixes, the second-most by a side in a T20I, matching Afghanistan’s 22 against Ireland in 2019.
During the sixth over, South Africa had reached 102, the highest Powerplay total by a Full Member in men’s T20Is, surpassing the West Indies 98 for 4 against Sri Lanka in 2021. South Africa reached 100 runs in 5.3 overs, the second-fastest team to reach three figures in men’s T20Is (where ball-by-ball data is available). The fastest time is 5.2 overs by Romania versus Serbia in 2021.
Quinton de Kock took 15 balls to reach his fifty, the quickest for South Africa in T20Is. With his 17-ball fifty against England in Durban in 2020, De Kock already held the Proteas record. Johnson Charles took 39 balls to reach his century, the joint-fourth-fastest in men’s T20Is. It is also West Indies’ quickest T20I century, surpassing Chris Gayle’s 47-ball performance against England in the 2016 T20 World Cup. South Africa and India now share the record for the 4th most 200-plus targets chased down by a T20I team.
