Quinton de Kock led South Africa’s batting carnage with a fire of 174 as they beat Bangladesh by 149 runs on Tuesday to stay on course for a place in the semi-finals of the Cricket World Cup.
De Kock posted the highest individual score of the tournament so far – and the ninth-highest total in Men’s World Cup history – before South Africa’s middle order fended off a listless Bangladesh attack to score 382 for five at the Wankhede Stadium.
South Africa then reduced Bangladesh to 58 for five, the pace attack eventually taking their opponents to 233 in 46.4 overs. Mahmudullah put up a resistance with a run-a-ball 111 but it was not enough to avert a heavy defeat. The Proteas have now won four of their five pool stage games and sit second in the table.
De Kock had announced that he would miss out on one-day internationals after the World Cup in India and the opener seems determined to make his farewell a memorable one and celebrate his third century in the tournament.
Aiden Markram, who led the side in the absence of the ill Temba Bavuma, won the toss and elected to bat. South Africa lost Reeza Hendricks (12) and Rassie van der Dussen (one) in successive overs, but De Kock combined with Markram (60) in a 131-run stand to stabilize the innings. He and Heinrich Klaasen then tore the Bangladesh attack apart, plundering 142 runs from just 87 balls.
De Kock managed to reach his third hundred in five games of the tournament and went on to replace India’s Virat Kohli as the tournament’s top run-scorer. A double hundred was at stake before he holed out after a 140-ball blitz that included seven sixes and 15 fours.
However, the batsman’s dismissal brought no relief to Bangladesh as Klaasen and David Miller, who made 34 not out from 15 balls, continued the chaos, hitting 12 sixes in total. Klaasen scored 90 off 49 balls as South Africa scored 144 runs in the last 10 overs and left Bangladesh with a mountain to climb.
After six calm overs, Marco Jansen wiped out Bangladesh’s lead by removing Tanzid Hasan and Najmul Hossain Shanto with successive deliveries. The game was effectively over for Bangladesh as they lost captain Shakib Al Hasan (one) and the experienced Mushfiqur Rahim (eight) cheaply.
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However, South Africa were not as determined against the bottom, allowing Bangladesh a lead of 233 before dismissing them with 3.2 overs to spare. This allowed the Tigers to move away from the bottom of the table based on net run rate and England dropped to bottom.
