When was the last time South Africa won a T20I series?
The South African team have now won four out of five matches on their current West Indies tour. Temba Bavuma's side will now be looking to seize the T20I series on Thursday by winning the fourth match. Hosts West Indies will look to win to stay alive having gone 2-1 down in the five-match series.
The absence of Chris Gayle depleted the top order of the West Indies in the previous match. The veteran player has, however, achieved match fitness ahead of the 4th T20I. He is likely to be slotted back into the number 3 position and is set to replace Jason Holder, who will be rested.
Both the bowling and batting departments have worked in unison to put South Africa ahead in the series so far. Quinton de Kock has continued his good form from the Test series and has been leading the run charts in the T20I series as well. Rassie van der Dussen has also played an excellent supporting role for de Kock in the batting unit.
On the bowling front, world number one T20I bowler Tabraiz Shamsi has performed consistently and picked up four wickets so far. He has formed a wonderful partnership with fellow spinner George Linde to restrict the big-hitting West Indies batters in the middle overs.
If South Africa manage to win the upcoming match, it will be their first T20I series win in over two years. Since their previous series win in March 2019, they have lost two series each against England and Pakistan and one against Australia. The Proteas also managed to draw a series against India in this time.
March 24, 2019: JP Duminy's young South African side win the third T20I vs Sri Lanka to complete series win
The Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg was the venue for South Africa's last series-winning match in T20I cricket. After winning the first two matches of their series against Sri Lanka, the Proteas had already sealed the series going into this game. The visitors, on the other hand, were looking to avoid a whitewash. Lankan skipper Lasith Malinga won the toss and decided to chase on a good batting track.
It soon proved to be the wrong decision as the South Africans made merry of the batting-friendly conditions and scored runs at a brisk pace. Reeza Hendricks (66) and Dwaine Pretorius (77*) were the chief performers for the Proteas in the batting department. Skipper JP Duminy provided the finishing touches with a quick-fire 34 from 14 balls. The trio helped South Africa reach a massive score of 198/2 in their first innings.
Rain interrupted the game at the halfway stage. As a result, the overs had to be reduced due to lost time. Sri Lanka were given an adjusted target of 183 which they were required to chase in 17 overs.
Opener Niroshan Dickwella (38) gave Sri Lanka a blazing start by scoring quickly. But the visitors' innings lost momentum when they lost the left-hander's wicket in the 6th over, leaving them at 55/2.
The rest of the batting line-up failed miserably as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 137 in 15.2 overs. Andile Phehlukwayo(4/24) was the wreaker-in-chief for South Africa in the second innings. Dwaine Pretorius deservingly won the Player of the Match award for his brilliant knock with the bat.