After 438, now 259! Proteas smash world record T20I run chase

 Quinton de Kock smashed a maiden T20 century as the Proteas chased down an historic highest target in a T20 international to beat the West Indies by six wickets and level the three-match series at Centurion on Sunday.

The Proteas now hold the T20 and ODI world records, after their famous 438/9 chasing Australia's 434/4 at the Wanderers in 2006 in the 50-over format.

It was a day for records at SuperSport Park as memories of the famous 438 game came flooding back.

On that day Herschelle Gibbs was the hero with an innings of 175, but on Sunday it was a collective effort with De Kock leading from the front striking nine fours and eight sixes in his 44-ball 100.

The left-hander was devastating at the top of the order to put the Proteas in the driver’s seat as they went in pursuit of 259 for victory. The previous record run chase in T20Is was 246 beating Bulgaria's 246 chasing 242 runs against Serbia in 2022.

De Kock was the aggressor as he and Reeza Hendricks flayed the West Indies bowlers to all parts of the Pretoria ground, taking their team to 62 in the third over before bringing up the team’s 100 in the final over of the power play, another record.

He shared 152 with Hendricks before he was dismissed, out caught by wicketkeeper Nicholas Pooran off Raymon Reifer. Rilee Rossouw, who struck 16 of four deliveries, was the second Proteas wicket to fall off the bowling of Odean Smith.

Hendricks went on to strike 11 fours and two sixes to reach 68 off 28 balls before being caught by Pooran off Rovman Powell.

David Miller struck a run-a-ball 10 before he was caught by Romario Shepheer off Jason Holder, as he tried to accelerate the scoring rate.

Captain Aiden Markram (38 off 21) and Heinrich Klaassen (16 off 7) steadied the ship to take their side home with seven deliveries to spare on a day where 517 runs were scored in the two innings.

Earlier, Johnson Charles took the Proteas bowlers to the cleaners, striking the sixth-fastest ton in T20Is.

The right-hander silenced the SuperSport Park crowd, finding the boundary on 22 occasions (10 fours and 11 sixes) on his way to 118 off 46 deliveries as the Windies recorded 258/5, their highest team total in a T20.

They lost opener Brandon King for a single off Wayne Parnell, bringing Charles to the crease. He and Kyle Mayers looked to get the innings going with two fours to end the first over.

They hit six more fours and two sixes to move the total past 50 in the fifth over, before two more fours off Kagiso Rabada in the sixth over saw West Indies close out the power play on 62.

Both Mayers and Charles chalked up half-centuries to take the islanders to 137 at the halfway mark, striking nine sixes and three fours in that four-over period.

Marco Jansen hit back by snatching two wickets, first dismissing Kyle Mayers (51) to break the 135-run second-wicket stand with Charles, before accounting for Nicholas Pooran (2) with the score on 140 at the end of the 11th over.

Charles continued the onslaught to bring up his maiden ton in T20I off 39 deliveries, adding 18 more runs to his total before he was Jansen’s third victim of the innings, with the score on 179/4.

A late Romario Shepherd cameo, hitting a blistering 41 off 18 deliveries including a four and four sixes, coupled with 28 from Rovman Powell took the Windies past 250.

Jansen finished with 3/52 in his four overs while Parnell claimed 2/43 from his four.

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