The tourists lost the first Test by 87 runs but had some bright spots, including bowling out the hists in both innings.
“I think it was very good for us as a bowling group to get 20 wickets. That was very important. I think it shows we are not far off,” Brathwaite told reporters in a pre-match press conference on Tuesday.
“It gave us that belief that we could do it and just have to keep believing and it doesn’t matter which team we’re playing, we’ve always got to believe. We had a lot of positives in the first Test and we must just keep improving,” Brathwaite added.
With that being said, the Windies had another tough game with the bat, being dismissed for 212 and 159 in their two turns at the crease.
Brathwaite says this has to change if they are to tie the series.
“As a batting unit, we have got to improve. We have got to spend more time out there. South Africa will come hard, no matter the eleven they play, so we must be ready for it,” he said.
“South Africa is a tough team at home and with a little more application from the batsmen, myself included, we could do well here in these conditions,” he added.
South Africa won the toss and put the West Indies in to bat and at the time of the first rain delay, West Indies women were 234-3 from 45.3 overs.
Deandra Dottin was not out on a mammoth 150 off 158 balls, with 18 fours and four sixes, and Shemaine Campbelle was the other not-out batter with 7.
Earlier, Hayley Matthews made 51 from 63 balls.
Dottin’s 150 is her third ODI hundred and the second-highest individual score by a West Indian, in Women’s ODIs, after Stafanie Taylor’s 171 off 137 balls against Sri Lanka Women in Mumbai in 2013.
Due to lack of time, the West Indies innings was declared at the same score meaning South Africa had a target of 204 off 29 overs based on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method.
The South Africans got to 87-5 off 17.4 overs before the skies opened up once again and caused the match to be abandoned before 20 overs could be completed.
Tazmin Brits got 32 off 37 balls to top score for the South Africans.
The second ODI takes place on Monday.
After winning the toss and batting first, South Africa put the West Indian bowlers to the sword to post their best total of the series, 299-8 off their 50 overs.
Opener Laura Wolvaardt dazzled with 117 off 123 balls including 11 fours and a six and captain Sune Luus contributed 56 off 93 balls.
Chloe Tryon provided some big hitting late in the innings with 42 from 24 balls including two fours and three sixes.
Shamilia Connell was the only bowler to have a good day for the West Indies with 4-54 off her 10 overs.
West Indies had to attempt their chase one batsman short as Chedean Nation, who got 35 in the second ODI, was unable to bat after picking up an injury in the field.
The batting was further handicapped when Captain Stafanie Taylor had to retire hurt for the second time in three games after being struck on the helmet by South Africa’s Nadine de Klerk early in the innings.
Eventually, despite a career-best 69 from 94 balls from Kycia Knight, the West Indies fell comfortably short of their target, finishing 203-9 off 43.5 overs.
Shabnim Ismail was the pick of the South African bowlers with 4-37 from 8.4 overs while Ayabonga Khaka took 2-27 off nine.
The decisive fourth ODI will take place on Sunday.
Taylor was forced to retire hurt after scoring 12 off 17 balls.
According to the management, "Out of an abundance of caution, she will be rested for the remainder of the match unless needed in the field."
Hayley Matthews replaced Taylor and made 51, featuring in a partnership of 153 runs with Deandra Dottin who is 150 not out as the West Indies reached 234-3 off 45.3 overs when rain interrupted play.
Leading 2-1 after Tilak's best-ever T20I knock of 107 not out led them to victory in Wednesday's third match, the tourists produced another magnificent batting display to wrap up the series in Johannesburg.
Samson and Abhishek Sharma put on a partnership of 73 to get the ball rolling after India captain Suryakumar Yadav chose to bat, but they really picked up the pace after the latter feathered Lutho Sipamla's ball through to Heinrich Klaasen for 36.
Tilak came in and smashed 120 runs off just 47 balls faced – including nine fours and 10 sixes – in a brilliant stand with Samson, who scored 109 off 56 deliveries.
South Africa's bowlers had no answer to the duo's big hitting, with the highlight of the innings coming when Tilak slogged 20 runs off four successive balls in the 14th over.
Finishing 283-1, India fell just 14 runs short of their record total in T20Is, a score of 297-6 versus Bangladesh set last month, and the Proteas' slim hopes of making it competitive were soon dashed.
Arshdeep Singh (3-20) dismissed Reeza Hendricks (0), Aiden Markram (8) and Klaasen (0) within the first three overs of their innings as the hosts were dropped to 10-4.
Varun Chakravarthy got in on the act with two wickets as India continued to rip through the South Africa batting order, Tristan Stubbs (43) top-scoring for the hosts as they fell 135 runs short of victory.
Data Debrief: Records fall for India pair
South Africa's bowlers were smashed around the Wanderers Stadium by Samson and Tilak, both of whom brought up notable milestones.
Samson became the first cricketer in T20I history to hit three centuries within a single year, having also scored tons against Bangladesh last month and South Africa eight days ago.
Tilak, meanwhile, managed a strike rate of 255.3, the highest ever recorded by an India player in a single T20I innings.
The tourists lead the four-match series 1-0 after the first ODI ended in a no result.
On Monday, the match was reduced to 41 overs per side after a rain delay.
After winning the toss and electing to field, West Indies women had a solid outing with the ball to restrict the hosts to 160 all out in 40.4 overs.
South African captain Sune Luus top-scored with 46 while openers Laura Volvaardt and Tazmin Brits got 25 each.
All five bowlers used by the West Indies got two wickets each with Hayley Matthews being the most economical with 2-21 from 7.4 overs.
In a chase that should have been simple, the West Indies made it complicated by losing wickets in bunches.
Deandra Dottin followed up her magnificent 150 not out in the first ODI with a top-score of 37 while Chadean Nation contributed 35.
Chinelle Henry (26) and captain Stafanie Taylor (21) were the other key contributors with the bat.
The Windies had a chance to win the match before the super over when Nation and Shakera Selman were at the crease in the 37th over needing just three runs to win.
Nation was then dismissed leaving Selman and new batter Karishma Ramharack needing three runs to win.
Ramharack and Selman each then got singles to leave just one run to win before Selman was trapped in front by pacer Shabnim Ismail for 11 to leave the Windies 160 all out from 37.4 overs.
Ayabonga Khaka was the pick of the South African bowlers with an excellent 5-26 from her eight overs while captain Luus supported well with 2-15 from seven overs.
West Indies batted first in the super over with Dottin and Matthews striding to the crease to face Ismail.
Some clean hitting from the pair meant the West Indies produced an intimidating 25 off their super over, leaving the hosts needing 26 to win.
Matthews then bowled the super over for the tourists and restricted the South African pair of Chloe Tryon and Tazmin Brits to 17 to secure a 9-run win and a 1-0 series lead.
The third ODI will take place on Thursday.
Batting first, the West Indies scored a paltry 174 all out from 49.2 overs. In reply, SAW cruised to 175-4 in 39.5 overs.
For the consecutive match, Kycia Knight top-scored for the West Indies with 48 while Deandra Dottin was once again among the runs with 36. However, the other West Indies Women, who were without captain Stafanie Taylor, failed to step up as only Shemaine Campbell and newcomer Mandy Mangru, with 15 each managed to get into double figures.
Shabnim Ismail was the spearhead of the South African attack with 4-44. There were two wickets each for Ayabonga Khaka (2-25) and Chloe Tryon (2-12) from just six overs.
South Africa’s victorious chase was led by Andrie Steyn who scored a solid 52 while Captain Sune Luus was once again among the runs with 47.
Anisa Mohammed was the best of the West Indies bowlers with 2-31 from nine overs.
