St George's (Grenada), Jun 27 (IANS): West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard exuded cautious optimism after his team defeated South Africa by eight wickets in the opening T20 International here, with the batters clicking after a long time.

West Indies batting had let them down in the two-match Test series at St. Lucia, with the hosts losing the opening Test by an innings and 63 runs and again suffering a 158-run debacle in the second Test at the hands of the Proteas.

In all the four Test innings, West Indies were unable to cross the 200-run mark, with their lowest being 97 in the first innings of the opening Test, which ended within three days.

"Winning the game with (five) overs to spare and wickets in hand I think that's a start for us. But it's just one game of a five-match series so we can't get too much ahead of ourselves," said skipper Pollard after the big T20I win on Saturday.

Evin Lewis smashed seven sixes and four boundaries in his 71-run knock to upend South Africa's total of 160/6 in 20 overs for the loss of just two wickets and with five overs to spare.

Lewis said he always had confidence in his abilities and added that a winning start is "very good".

"I always have confidence. This is an excellent pitch for batting here in Grenada. Once I see balls in my area, I try to hit it, but also to play it smart and look for the singles as well.

"I tried to give a good start with Fletcher in the powerplay overs. If I score 70-something and the team wins I'm happy. It's a pretty good start, getting a winning start is very good for us," said Lewis.