By Neil Manthorp.
Quinton de Kock’s fourth century of the tournament and a double-century partnership with Rassie van der Dussen, who scored his second, helped South Africa post a daunting total of 357-4 in their World Cup group match against New Zealand at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Wednesday.
De Kock scored a glorious 114 and Van der Dussen added 133 as the Proteas adopted a safety-first approach after being asked to bat first before accelerating through the course of the innings with wickets in hand to set the Black Caps a withering target.
De Kock was happy to allow the bowlers to dominate during the Power Play while scoring at a strike rate of barely 50 but was in complete control as he straight drove Tim Southee and spinner Mitch Santner for straight sixes to kickstart his innings.
Sweet cover-driving, a range of sweeps against the spinners and a series of rasping cuts and pulls against the seamers brought De Kock another ten fours before stepping inside the line against seamer Jimmy Neeshan and pulling him for a third six to bring up his 21st ODI century.
Van der Dussen was similarly careful at the start of his innings as the Proteas stuck to their successful ‘blueprint’ of attacking the final 10 overs with wickets in hand but, instead of making way for Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen, he accelerated deep into the innings to finish with 133 from 118 deliveries with nine fours and five sixes.
Two of those sixes came in successive deliveries from Neesham (5.3-0-69-1) who conceded 20runs in the 45th over of the innings as the Proteas’ ‘charge’ hit sixth gear.
A knee-high full toss from left arm spinner Rachin Ravindra was despatched over deep midwicket and a straight drive against offspinner Glenn Phillips comfortably cleared the ropes as van der Dussen showed that he, too, is capable of the power-hitting which has been on display from Markram, Klaasen and David Miller so far.
Miller was promoted to No 4 when De Kock cut a wide delivery from Trent Boult to backward point and was quickly into his stride with successive sixes against Phillips before being spectacularly caught by Mitchell, stepping over the long off boundary and back again, for 53 from 30 balls with two fours and four sixes.
Earlier Temba Bavuma struck seamer Matt Henry for a glorious six over extra cover during his 24 from 28 deliveries before Boult had him well caught, low down at slip by Daryl Mitchell. It was a disappointing evening for Henry, however, as the Black Caps suffered yet another injury with the fast bowler limping off with a hamstring strain three balls into his sixth over.
Klaasen made a belated appearance with 17 balls of the innings remaining after van der Dussen was bowled by a Southee slower ball and wasted no time, pummelling the unfortunate Neesham for yet another straight six before driving him through the covers to finish with 15* from seven balls.
Miller’s mighty flourish left Aiden Markram with just a single delivery to face which he smartly pulled for six.
South Africa replaced spinner Tabraiz Shamsi with fast bowler Kagiso Rabada from the team which beat Pakistan by one-wicket on Friday in Chennai while the Black Caps gave a first outing of the tournament to veteran swing bowler Southee.
A high-scoring match was always likely with the average first innings score being 310 – although there have been only five one-day internationals played at the venue. Nonetheless, the Proteas will know their work is not yet done with New Zealand having scored 383 in the previous match against Australia to lose by just five runs.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wkt), Temba Bavuma (captain), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi
New Zealand: Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (captain/wkt), Glenn Phillips, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Tim Southee, Trent Boult.