CRICKET WORLD CUP
Massive De Kock ton takes Proteas to another win, this time over Bangladesh
South Africa have now won four out of five matches at the Cricket World Cup after demolishing Bangladesh in a 149-run win at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday.
South Africa continued their fine Cricket World Cup form with a 149-run thrashing of Bangladesh at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday.
The win was set up by a spectacular 174 off 140 balls by opener Quinton de Kock — his third century in five World Cup matches — which took South Africa to a mammoth 382 for five.
De Kock had able support from stand-in skipper Aiden Markram (60 off 69) and Heinrich Klaasen (90 off 49), sharing 100-run partnerships with both the middle-order batters.
The Proteas dismissed Bangladesh for 233 runs in 46.4 overs, with every South African bowler getting a scalp — this has happened in all five matches they’ve played in the tournament so far.
Bangladesh were 158 for eight in the 37th over, but a brilliant rearguard century by Mohammad Mahmudullah helped the subcontinent team to 233 with three overs and two balls to spare.
Kagiso Rabada of South Africa celebrates the wicket of Bangladesh’s Litton Das. (Photo: Pankaj Nangia / Gallo Images / Getty Images)
The victory takes South Africa to second on the log. They are tied on points with New Zealand, but go above them by virtue of a superior net run rate. Hosts India, who remain unbeaten after five matches, sit comfortably at the top of the table.
Brilliant top six
De Kock marked his 150th One Day International with an otherworldly, massive century filled with trademark pickup strokes over the legside and elegant lofted drives.
The brutish opening batter brought up his 20th ODI hundred with a delicate nudge to offside. The knock contained seven sixes and 15 fours as he became the leading run scorer in the tournament.
Reeza Hendricks (12 off 19) — who played his second successive World Cup match after captain Temba Bavuma was unavailable because of gastroenteritis — along with Rassie van der Dussen (one off seven) failed to get going on what appeared to be another flat Wankhede pitch.
But the nature of South Africa’s batting lineup and form means that one or two failures on the day doesn’t mean a substantial total won’t be reached.
Markram added great impetus and energy when he came in — sharing in a 131-run third-wicket partnership with De Kock — striking four elegant boundaries before he chipped a Shakib Al Hasan delivery straight to Litton Das at long off.
Klaasen, coming off a brutal century three days earlier at the same venue against England, upped the ante even more as he put on a blistering 142-run, 87-ball partnership with De Kock.
Klaasen clubbed eight sixes and two fours in his destructive knock, coming within 10 runs of a second century in consecutive matches.
David Miller (34 not out off 15 balls) played a quickfire cameo, striking four powerful sixes and one four to push South Africa to the third-highest total in the World Cup thus far.
The Proteas have the top two highest scores as well: the 428 they posted against Sri Lanka and the 399 set against England.
Unable to close out
South Africa’s excellent new-ball bowling continued against the Bangladeshis.
Marco Jansen strangled left-handers Tanzid Hasan and Hossain Shanto down the legside off consecutive deliveries to leave the Tigers reeling early at 30 for two.
Lizaad Williams — who came in for Lungi Ngidi who had a knee niggle — got rid of Al Hasan the next over.
Bangladesh’s Litton Das plays a shot in the match against South Africa at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on 24 October 2023. (Photo: Pankaj Nangia / Gallo Images)
Gerald Coetzee and Kagiso Rabada got in on the act and dismissed Mushfiqur Rahim and opener Das, respectively, leaving Bangladesh languishing at 58 for five after 15 overs.
The match was settled at that point, but the Proteas’ inability to close out a match came to the fore again. Mahmadullah, coming in at No 6, guided the tail and harboured strike skilfully to notch up a run-a-ball 111.
The knock was never enough to win Bangladesh the match, but it did improve their withering net run rate, as the all-rounder struck 11 fours and four sixes before Coetzee eventually outfoxed him with a full and wide delivery.
Coetzee finished with three wickets for 62 runs in 10 overs. Jansen, Williams and Rabada each picked up two wickets while Keshav Maharaj had one scalp.
South Africa’s last eight ODI wins have now been by a margin greater than 100 runs as they head into their clash with Pakistan on Friday high on confidence. DM
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Great game and good performances from a number of players as outlined, but my worry is the Proteas’ inability to close out matches and this is going to cost us in close encounters e.g. potentially NZ, India and indeed Pakistan and Afghanistan. The brains trust is going to have to figure out a solution as this will be critical if we reach the knockouts.
south africa’s batting is looking good. they have scored 300 batting first 7 games in a row now. they are averaging 106 runs from overs 41 to 50 in 2023.
the problem this world cup is coming from not finishing teams off after great bowling starts.
* sri lanka: from 233/7 to 326 – 93 runs for the last 3 wickets at 7.4 per over.
* australia: from 70/6 to 177 – 107 runs for the last 4 wickets at 4.6 per over.
* netherlands: from 140/7 to 245/8 – 105 runs for 1 wicket (end of innings) at 11.5 per over.
* england: from 84/7 to 170 – 86 for last 2 wickets at 14.8 per over.
* bangladesh: from 81/6 to 233 – 152 runs for the last 4 wickets at 6.2 per over.
an average opposition lower order partnership of 43.4 at 7.9 per over is not going to win you many games against top teams in good form (i’m looking at you, india and new zealand).
It really weird, the bowlers are possibly doing better than even the Indian and NZL teams against the top and middle order, but struggling heavily against the lower order. We have 3 bowlers on 10 wickets each and have bowled the other team out in 5/6 games (we had no business not bowling Netherlands out either but it was a shortened game as well).
I hope it requires a small tactical adjustment to get right going into the last 4 games as we need to win 2 to guarantee qualification from matches against IND, NZL, PAK and a good Afghan team. If we can use these 4 matches to fix that, then we really have a great chance (surely an attack that’s dominating the top order should have it in them to do the same to the lower order).