SOUTH AFRICA WINS TOSS AGAINST WEST INDIES IN FIRST OF THREE T20 MATCHES

In the first of three Twenty20 Internationals, which begin at Boland Park in Paarl on Tuesday, South Africa will field first against the West Indies after winning the toss. This series will help both teams finish their preparations for the 2026 ICC T20 World Cup, which will be held in Sri Lanka and India the following month. The Proteas have lost 12 of their 18 games in 2025, and both teams have only won once in the previous five games. In the last eight games against the Caribbean team, Aiden Markram's team has only triumphed once, by three wickets at the 2024 World Cup.

Although the teams have never met in the Cape Winelands territory, they did play one match in Cape Town in 2015, which the Windies won by four wickets.

In March 2023, one of the most thrilling games between the two teams took place at Centurion. With Johnson Charles hitting a 46-ball 118 and Kyle Mayers hitting 51 from 27 balls, the West Indies batted first and amassed a massive 258 for five. Romario Shepherd profited as well, scoring an undefeated 41 off of just 18 balls.

With seven balls remaining, the Proteas won by six wickets with Quinton de Kock's 44-ball century in an early 152 partnership with Reeza Hendricks (68). Both teams have their entire World Cup rosters available for this series, although David Miller is out due to injury, while the hosts have chosen to rest De Kock, Tristan Stubbs, and Marco Jansen for today's match.