South Africa opt to bowl vs West Indies
With the series on the line, Aiden Markram, playing in his 50th T20I, decided South Africa would chase in warm, sunny conditions in Trinidad.
That kept South Africa’s combination of five batters, two seam-bowling all-rounders, three seamers and a spinner intact.
West Indies, meanwhile, stuck with the same XI from the first game, which meant they had no room for the experienced Obed McCoy, with Matthew Forde and Shamar Joseph tasked with leading the pace pack. They will be confident of what they can do after they reduced South Africa to 42 for 5 in the first match.
From there, a record sixth-wicket partnership of 68 runs between Tristan Stubbs and Patrick Kruger took South Africa to a respectable total, but West Indies chased it down with 13 balls to spare to complete the highest successful chase at this ground.
West Indies know it’s possible to get big runs on this surface, and they will want to make sure they do that first if they are to claim the series with a game to spare.
West Indies: 1 Shai Hope, 2 Alick Athanaze, 3 Nicholas Pooran, 4 Roston Chase, 5 Sherfane Rutherford, 6 Rovman Powell (capt), 7 Romario Shepherd, 8 Matthew Forde, 9 Akeal Hosein, 10 Gudakesh Motie, 11 Shamar Joseph
South Africa: 1 Reeza Hendricks, 2 Ryan Rickelton (wk) 3 Aiden Markram (capt), 4 Tristan Stubbs, 5 Rassie van der Dussen, 6 Donovan Ferreira, 7 Patrick Kruger, 8 Bjorn Fortuin, 9 Ottneil Baartman, 10 Lizaad Williams, 11 Kwena Maphaka