The Proteas are excited and ready for the first T20 International against the West Indies in Tarouba which will be played on Friday.

For South Africa as well as the West Indies it will be the first T20 International since the T20 World Cup which was hosted in the Caribbean and the USA. The Proteas beat the West Indies by 3-wickets in the Super 8’s to knock them out of the World Cup.

The series of three matches is important for both teams with each having their own objectives and for South Africa it’s the start of their process to the next T20 World Cup.

The venue is the same one where the Proteas beat Afghanistan by nine-wickets in the semi-finals of the recent T20 World Cup.

The Proteas captain, Aiden Markram, said they have everything in place.

“It looks like it's going to be quite different - the wicket looks a lot dryer so I would assume that it would play better than the Afghanistan game, so I think there is a bit of a sign of relief from us batters, said Markram.

“We're going to have to access it out there in the game as quickly as possible and formulate plans from there.

“The guys have quite a bit of homework in meeting in building up to tomorrow’s game. Hopefully those plans that we've been through we'll be able to execute it tomorrow.”

Friday night’s game at the Brian Lara Cricket Stadium is scheduled to start at 21:00.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport