Quinton de Kock's majestic 115 and Ryan Rickelton's unbeaten 77 powered South Africa to an unassailable 2-0 lead in their T20I series against West Indies, as they won Thursday's second match in Centurion by seven wickets.

It was an unbeaten haul of 86 runs by captain Aiden Markram that got the Proteas over the line in Tuesday's opener, but this time, it was the next two names in their batting order that provided the heroics.

West Indies set a very respectable target of 222, with Shimron Hetmyer slamming 75 runs off 42 deliveries and Sherfane Rutherford adding an unbeaten 57 off 24 to help them reach 221-4.

Things could have been worse for South Africa's bowlers, though, had Keshav Maharaj not posted strong figures of 2-22 through four overs with the ball, having Hetmyer caught by Dewald Brevis in the 15th over.

And a late splurge of runs against Kwena Maphaka and Marco Jensen – who conceded four boundaries in the 18th over alone – was not enough for West Indies, who saw their total eclipsed by South Africa's high-powered batting with 15 balls remaining.

Markram was caught for 15 off Matthew Forde's early delivery, but South Africa then went another 12 overs without losing a wicket, with De Kock and Rickelton putting on a 162-run stand.

De Kock finally fell to Akeal Hosein following a rare miscue, but South Africa were already at 189-2 by that point, with five overs still remaining. And Rickelton kept their scoring rate up before finishing matters with a four, which also took him to his highest-ever T20I score. 

 MATCH RESULT 

Utter dominance from #TheProteas as they claim a commanding 7-wicket victory! 

With this win, they seal the KFC T20I series 2-0 with a game to spare. SEE YOU ALL ON PINK DAY! #Unbreakable pic.twitter.com/PJkTJA5uEX

— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) January 29, 2026

Data Debrief: De Kock into exclusive club, Rickelton's best outing

De Kock is only the third South Africa batsman to hit multiple T20I centuries, having previously hit another ton against the Windies in 2023.

David Miller (versus Bangladesh in 2017 and India in 2022) and Rilee Rossouw (versus India and Bangladesh, both in 2022) previously did so.

Both of De Kock's T20I centuries have come in chases of over 220 runs against West Indies in Centurion, and in both instances, he only needed 43 balls to bring up three figures.

Rickelton took over the mantle when De Kock finally fell, surpassing his previous best score in the format, a knock of 76 versus Ireland in 2024.