Herschelle Gibbs blitzed his way to an unbeaten 90 to lead hosts South Africa to a dramatic eight-wicket win over the West Indies in the first match of the inaugural ICC Twenty20 World Championship on Tuesday.
Cricket's new avatar kickstarted with hosts skipper Graeme Smith winning the toss and inviting the West Indies to bat in a packed Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg.
It had seemed that Smith had squandered an opportunity to rake up the runs first up when the West Indies put up 205-6 in their allotted 20 overs.
Chris Gayle brought Johannesburg to his feet with the first ever Twenty20 international century coming off only 50 deliveries as he hammered the South African bowlers to all corners of the park.
But Gibbs played one of his own blinders as he clobbered 90 not out from 55 balls as the South Africans cruised to victory with 2.2 overs to spare. The West Indies, on their part, were guilty of not backing up their batsmen as the bowlers sent down a total of 28 extras—a record—and dropped three catches to make matters worse.