LUCKNOW: Quinton de Kock hit his second successive century as South Africa crushed five-time champions Australia by 134 runs to cruise to their second victory at the World Cup on Thursday.

Chasing 312, Australia lost half their wickets for 65 runs and struggled against Kagiso Rabada (3-33), Marco Jansen (2-54) and Keshav Maha­raj (2-30) as they folded for 177 in 40.5 overs with Marnus Labuschagne (46) their only batsman to fire.

The comprehensive victory was built on a platform provided by De Kock, who scored 109 while Aiden Markram made a handy 56 to help the Proteas post 311-7 in 50 overs.

“I’d be really greedy if I said there were areas to improve, a near-perfect game with the bat, and with the ball,” said South Africa captain Temba Bavuma.

Australia were left bemused by a couple of decisions taken by the TV umpire following reviews as Marcus Stoinis was deemed caught behind despite his bottom hand appearing to be off the bat as the ball hit his glove.

Steve Smith had earlier been adjudged out lbw with ball-tracking technology predicting the delivery would have hit the top of his stumps, but the batsman looked unconvinced.

Rabada removed both batsmen to leave Australia tottering on 70-6 before South Africa’s spinners put them out of their misery.

“It’s a great win for the boys,” said player of the match De Kock. “To be honest, we didn’t know how the wicket was going to play. We assessed conditions well and played accordingly. We knew it was going to be a difficult game for us. But as long as we played and stuck to our strengths... that’s what we did and came out on top.”

Australia lost by six wickets to India in their opener and skipper Pat Cummins admitted his team had been “well off the mark”.

“If we’ve got to be challenging for this tournament you’ve got to find a way in all conditions,” he said. “That’s for the bowlers to take wickets and the batters to try and get runs. Not much needs to be said tonight, everyone’s hurting so we’ve got a few days, we’ll regroup. We’ll try and make amends.”

Asked to bat first after Cummins won the toss, South Africa made a watchful start and rode their luck before De Kock picked up where he left off in the win over Sri Lanka with eight fours and five sixes in his 106-ball knock.

Bavuma (35) gained two reprieves as Australia failed to hold onto difficult chances before Glenn Maxwell (2-34) snared him, but the Proteas marched on as De Kock twice hit Josh Hazlewood into the stands in the 23rd over.

Spinner Adam Zampa removed the dangerous Rassie van der Dussen (26) but De Kock continued to plunder runs and brought up his 19th ton by pulling Cummins for a huge six shortly after the pace bowler had dropped Markram when he was on one.

Maxwell bowled De Kock out with one that crept through after hitting the left-hander’s bat as he attempted a reverse pull and Markram fell to Cummins after a breezy knock, as the Australian bowlers put the brakes on South Africa’s scoring.

Cummins could have had two more wickets but Stoinis and Mitchell Starc put down chances on a sloppy day in the field but a double strike by Starc (2-53) in the last over kept South Africa from swelling the score.

Australia’s mood did not improve once they began chasing a 312-run target, losing wickets on a regular basis as South Africa’s fast bowlers ripped through their top order.

Jansen and Lungi Ngidi sent back openers Mitchell Marsh (seven) and David Warner (13) before Rabada took three quick wickets.

Rabada had Smith lbw on review for 19, clean-bowled Josh Inglis for five and had Stoinis caught down the leg-side by wicketkeeper De Kock, also for five.

In between, off-spinner Maharaj claimed dangerman Maxwell off his own bowling as the Australian nicknamed “The Big Show” suffered stage fright and was out for just three.

With the match virtually lost, Australia went into damage limitation, hoping to ease the damage to their run rate with still seven pool matches to play in the marathon event.

At the halfway stage of 25 overs, they had crept to 95-6 before Labuschagne (46) and Starc (27) put on 69 for the seventh wicket.

They fell in the space of seven balls before the innings collapsed with leg-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi wrapping up the tail.

SCOREBOARD

SOUTH AFRICA:

Q. de Kock b Maxwell109

T. Bavuma c Warner b Maxwell35

R. van der Dussen c sub b Zampa26

A. Markram c Hazlewood b Cummins56

H. Klaasen c Inglis b Hazlewood29

D. Miller b Starc17

M. Jansen c Warner b Starc26

K. Rabada not out0

K. Maharaj not out0

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-2, W-7)13

TOTAL (for seven wickets, 50 overs)311

DID NOT BAT: L. Ngidi, T. Shamsi

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-108 (Bavuma), 2-158 (Van der Dussen), 3-197 (De Kock), 4-263 (Markram), 5-267 (Klaasen), 6-310 (Jansen), 7-311 (Miller)

BOWLING: Starc 9-1-53-2 (1w), Hazlewood 9-0-60-1 (3w), Maxwell 10-1-34-2 (2w), Cummins 9-0-71-1, Zampa 10-0-70-1 (1w), Marsh 1-0-6-0, Stoinis 2-0-11-0

AUSTRALIA:

M. Marsh c Bavuma b Jansen7

D. Warner c van der Dussen b Ngidi13

S. Smith lbw b Rabada19

M. Labuschagne c Bavuma b Maharaj46

J. Inglis b Rabada5

G. Maxwell c & b Maharaj3

M. Stoinis c de Kock b Rabada5

M. Starc c de Kock b Jansen27

P. Cummins c Miller b Shamsi22

A. Zampa not out11

J. Hazlewood c Rabada b Shamsi2

EXTRAS (LB-4, NB-2, W-11)17

TOTAL (all out in 40.5 overs)177

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-27 (Marsh), 2-27 (Warner), 3-50 (Smith), 4-56 (Inglis), 5-65 (Maxwell), 6-70 (Stoinis), 7-139 (Starc), 8-143 (Labuschagne), 9-175 (Cummins)

BOWLING: Ngidi 8-2-18-1 (1w), Jansen 7-0-54-2 (3w, 1nb), Rabada 8-1-33-3 (1w, 1nb), Maharaj 10-0-30-2 (2w), Shamsi 7.5-0-38-2

RESULT: South Africa win by 134 runs.

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Q. de Kock

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2023