South Africa played the T20 World Cup final in June. West Indies defeated that team easily. The Caribbean camp won by 7 wickets under the influence of Nicholas Pooran. South Africa failed with the ball. South Africa lost the first match of the T20 series. Tristian Stubbs scored 174 runs, batting first at Trinidad Stadium. Captain Aiden Markram (14) did not get a run, but Stubbs scored 76 runs. Patrick Kruger scored 44 runs. No other batsman could score even 15 runs.
West Indies won the match with 13 balls to spare after South Africa scored 174 runs to bat. The two openers, Alic Athanez and Shai Hope, made a pair of 84 runs. Athanage scored 40 runs. Hope scored 51 runs. Puran did the rest to win the team. He played a match-winning inning of 65 runs off 26 balls. West Indies took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. The next two matches are on August 26 and 28. West Indies win the series if they win one of those two.
