South Africa eased past New Zealand in the 32nd match of the ongoing World Cup by 190 runs to win their sixth match of the tournament while playing at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium (MCA) in Pune on Wednesday, November 1. After being invited to bat first, the Proteas lost their skipper Temba Bavuma in the ninth over of the game as he fell prey to Tim Southee on the latter's return.
However, the Proteas recovered quickly after the early setback as star wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock and No. three batter Rassie van der Dussen aggregated 200 runs for the second wicket and hammered the Kiwi bowlers to all parts of the ground.
De Kock scored his fourth century of the ongoing edition and stamped his authority on the game. He racked up 114 runs off 116 balls, including 10 fours and three sixes at an impressive strike rate of 98.27. He was ably supported by van der Dussen who also scored his second ton of the edition.
Van der Dussen took the Kiwi bowlers to task and hammered 133 runs off 118 balls with the help of nine fours and five maximums. He accelerated well after scoring his hundred and scored at a strike rate of 112.71.
Despite impressive efforts from de Kock and van der Dussen, the Proteas needed some late flourish and it came from the willow of David Miller. Miller scored a mind-blowing half-century (53 off 30 balls) to help South Africa post an imposing 357 on the board.
In reply, New Zealand were expected to display some fireworks with the bat in hand but it never happened. The entire Kiwi batting order fell like a house of cards with just Will Young, Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips reaching double digits.
The South African bowling attack looked in its elements with Marco Jansen (3/41) and Keshav Maharaj (4/46) doing the most damage to New Zealand's batting line-up. South Africa have now displaced India to claim the top spot on the points table by virtue of a better net run rate (NRR) 2.290.
