West Indies draw first blood against Proteas in best-of-three T20 series

The Proteas batted first at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba and made a competitive total of 174-7, helped in no small part by a sixth-wicket partnership of 71 between Tristan Stubbs and Patrick Kruger.

Stubbs smashed 76 off just 42 balls - including eight fours and three sixes - while Kruger's 44 from 32 balls helped salvage a defendable total for the visitors after they had been reduced to 42-5 on a pitch that offered more seam movement than normal.

Earlier, Ryan Rickelton (4), Aiden Markram (14), Reeza Hendricks (4), Rassie van der Dussen (5) and Donovan Ferreira (8) all failed to ignite to leave the Proteas in serious trouble, before Stubbs and Kruger rescued the innings.

However, it still did not prove enough on the day as the Windies delivered a high-quality batting performance, spearheaded by openers Alick Athinaze (40) and Shai Hope (51), who struck 84 in just eight overs before Nicholas Pooran joined the party and smashed another 65 from only 26 balls with two fours and seven sixes.

With that kind of batting at the top of the order, it meant that even when some wickets started to fall, the Proteas were not able to deny the home side at the tail-end of the innings, as the West Indies chased down the total with 13 balls to spare.

Ottneil Baartman (4-0-30-2) and Kwena Maphaka (3.5-0-25-1) were the only bright spots for the South Africans in the field.

Games two and three of the series take place at the same venue on Sunday and Tuesday.

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