One for the record books
THERE were rich pickings for South Africa’s opening batsmen in the City of Diamonds as the Proteas followed up their Test series hammering of Bangladesh with another pounding in the first One-Day International in Kimberley yesterday.
A new national record partnership for any wicket, saw the home team race to victory with 43 balls to spare as Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla continued the Proteas’ dominating start to the home summer.
Bangladesh may have felt reasonably confident after posting 278, thanks to Mushfiqur Rahim’s fifth ODI century, but it was a target that proved hopelessly inadequate.
Their bowlers, who were poor in the Tests as well, were unable to create any form of pressure against the South African openers.
Amla has scored a century in three of the four innings he has played against the Bangladeshis on their tour, registering a 26th ODI century yesterday to move him two clear of AB de Villiers as leading hundred maker for South Africa in ODIs.
He barely moved out of second gear, hitting just eight boundaries, with the main feature of his innings his ability to nudge the ball into gaps and take singles of which there were 65 in his innings.
The fireworks came from De Kock, who mixed elegant drives with funky sweeps and flicks as he notched up a 13th ODI century, eventually finishing the match not out on 168, hitting 21 fours and two sixes.
The pair broke the previous national record for any wicket in ODIs, 256, shared for the fifth wicket by David Miller and JP Duminy against Zimbabwe in the 2015 World Cup.
The previous highest first-wicket partnership for South Africa was 247 between Amla and Rilee Rossouw against the West Indies at the Wanderers in 2015.
Proteas captain Faf du Plessis praised the greed of his two openers.
“We were saying that we felt a bit sorry for the Bangladeshi team, because it’s been hard toil for their bowlers. But as a team we want to be ruthless and today was a very good example of that,” said Du Plessis.
“When you are bossing the game, it’s easy to throw away your wicket when it’s 150 without loss, but the guys are hungry and determined to put in massive performances.”
Bangladesh created little with the ball, in fact the first opportunity came their way when fast bowler Taskin Ahmed dropped Amla off his own bowling in the 38th over, with Amla on 95. There was another opportunity in the 43rd over when De Kock, on 159, was dropped on the long on boundary by Nasir Hossain.
Earlier Mushfiqur revelled in being free of captaincy responsibilities as he scored an unbeaten 110 to anchor the tourists’ innings, after ODI skipper Mashrafe Mortaza chose to bowl.
He became the first Bangladesh batsman to score a century against South Africa in any format, leading his team to their highest total against the hosts.
The trouble was the lack of decent support for Mushfiqur, with Shakib Al-Hasan, back in the side after resting during the Test series, scoring 29 – in the process he surpassed 5000 runs – and Mahmudullah a run-a-ball 26.
Kagiso Rabada with 4/43 was the best of the South African bowlers, with Imran Tahir (1/45) and Dwaine Pretorius (2/48) providing good support.
It was a forgettable debut for Dane Paterson with the Cape Cobras bowler struggling with his line and length and conceding 69 runs in nine overs.
The second match Wednesday in Paarl. is on