Records Tumble as West Indies Create T20 History Against South Africa

The West Indies created Twenty20 history on Sunday when they chased down a target of 232 in the second match of their series against South Africa.

New Wanderers Stadium was not a place to be a bowler as the tourists recorded a quite astonishing victory with four balls to spare, skipper Darren Sammy sealing the win with a six.

It meant poor Faf du Plessis was on the losing side, despite the South Africa captain registering a century in his team's innings of 231-7.

So, as well as the West Indies setting a new mark for highest successful chase, what other records were broken in Johannesburg?

We have picked out a few of note, though not everyone will be happy to see their name included! 

The best news of all is there is still one more game to go in the series yet. The two teams meet again on Wednesday at Kingsmead, Durban.

It can hardly be surprising to learn that the West Indies and South Africa combined to set a new record in terms of total runs scored in a T20 fixture (in international cricket).

The two teams scored 467 runs between them in 39.2 overs, as the West Indies were victorious with four balls to spare in their reply. The overall run rate in the match was a ridiculous 11.87 an over.

Still, the final total fell just short of the record in any T20 fixture—the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals produced 469 in an Indian Premier League encounter in 2010.

The previous record for highest scoring international match in the format was between England and Australia at Southampton in 2013.

The two Ashes rivals managed 457 runs, with opener Aaron Finch scoring 156 all by himself. Unsurprisingly, his astonishing knock helped Australia record a 39-run victory at the Ageas Bowl. 

Spare a thought for Faf du Plessis. South Africa's T20 captain led from the front with the bat, smashing 119 from just 56 deliveries.

His outstanding innings included 11 fours and five sixes. The plethora of boundaries helped him go past Richard Levi on the list of highest individual scores by a Proteas player.

Sadly, he had little time to reflect on his record-breaking efforts.

The joy of hitting a century was quickly washed away when he was unable to do anything in the field to stem the flow of runs in the successful reply by the West Indies.

Du Plessis admitted afterwards in his post-match interview, per Sky Sports, that his milestone moment had been ruined slightly by his side being beaten.

It’s my first Twenty20 international hundred; you don’t think they’ll come along because it feels like you need a bit of luck.

But it was good striking today, a good deck—great for the fans, a lot of boundaries.

But it was very bittersweet to lose like that. 

Now that the dust has settled, Faf du Plessis can take heart from the fact he set a new record for highest score by a captain in Twenty20 cricket, too.

The right-hander went past Tillakaratne Dilshan (104) on the list of top scores by a skipper, with the pair the only leaders to make centuries in the short format.

Du Plessis also joined a select club who have hit international hundreds in all three forms of the game, according to Bishen Jeswant of ESPN Cricinfo.

Only seven other players have achieved the feat, but he is the first South African to manage three-figure knocks in T20, ODI and Test cricket.

Perhaps this achievement will offer a crumb of comfort to the 30-year-old in defeat. 

While records can be great, they can also at times be unwanted.

South Africa paceman Kyle Abbott will certainly feel like that now he holds the dubious honour of conceding the most runs in a Twenty20 match at international level.

The bowler leaked 68 runs from his four overs.

Abbott perhaps should have realised it was not going to be his day when three of his first four deliveries in the match were hit to the boundary.

His second over saw him suffer at the hands of Chris Gayle, who followed up a dot ball to start with by hitting four successive fours.

Not content with his efforts, he finished things off with a six!

In total, Abbott was hit for 12 fours and two sixes, though he did pick up the wicket of Andre Russell.

The previous high in a four-over spell in T20 cricket was 64 runs, conceded by both England seamer James Anderson (against Australia) and Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka (against Pakistan). 

Having already played a starring role in his team's victory in the opening match of the series, Chris Gayle was again the scourge of South Africa's bowlers on Sunday.

The opening batsman found the thin air at altitude in Johannesburg to his liking, smashing 90 from just 41 balls including nine fours and seven sixes.

Together with Marlon Samuels—who made 60 batting at three in the order—the big-hitting Gayle helped put on 152, a new record for the West Indies for any wicket in T20 action.

Their alliance eventually came to an end when Gayle was caught behind off the bowling of David Wiese with the score on 171. Samuels, meanwhile, fell seven runs later in the next over from the same bowler.

Still, the pair had laid the platform for the men from the Caribbean to complete a record-breaking chase.

Gayle's efforts mean he now has the top five scores by a West Indies player in the format. It seems he has a liking for the venue—his career best of 117 also came at New Wanderers.