Hendricks’ ton leads SA to series win against Pak

South Africa won a bilateral T20 series for the first time in more than two years when they chased down Pakistan’s 206. Opener Reeza Hendricks’ maiden T20 century, 117 off 63 balls, drove the Proteas to 210/3 with three balls to spare. Pakistan’s 206/5 was braced by an equally brilliant unbeaten 98 off 57 by opener Saim Ayub, who was desperately unlucky not to notch his maiden T20 century. He was stranded, unable to face the last nine balls of the innings.

South Africa won the series 2-0 with a game to spare for their first T20 series victory since August 2022. The teams’ combined 416 runs were the most in the 17-year history of their T20 matchups.

Hendricks has been a T20 Protea for 10 years and a prolific scorer and striker but he’d been on a mediocre run of late. When South Africa were 28/2 after four overs, he stepped up. “First over, five dots and got away, and so the moment I got that away, things started to click,” Hendricks said.

Hendricks hit 10 sixes and seven boundaries.