Proteas maul the Dutch at Willowmoore Park
Bavuma led from the front with a commanding 90 runs off 79 balls.
South Africa gained ten crucial points on the World Super League after an eight-wicket victory against the Netherlands in their Betway ODI at Willowmoore Park yesterday (March 31).
Spearheaded by unbeaten half-centuries from Captain Temba Bavuma and Aiden Markram, who shared a third-wicket stand of 102 off 71 balls, the win put South Africa one match away from securing an automatic qualification to the ICC World Cup in India later this year.
Chasing 190 to win after dismissing the tourists for 189, Bavuma led from the front with a commanding 90 runs off 79 balls, scoring eight fours and a six.
Despite losing the wicket of Quinton de Kock (9 off 21) early on in the chase, Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen put South Africa in cruise-control with a second-wicket partnership of 70 before Van der Dussen was dismissed for 31 off 41 after top-edging a Fred Klassen bouncer to Ahmed Musa at midwicket.
Markram was next at the crease and he and Bavuma, who scored his fifty with a loft over mid-wicket, steered the ship.
While the skipper, who scored his first ODI century on his debut at Willowmoore Park, flirted with registering his third ODI hundred, Markram raced to his sixth ODI fifty, scoring 51 off 37 balls.
The duo guided South Africa to 190/2 for an important win, with Bavuma scoring the winning runs off the last ball of the 30th over.
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Earlier, Vikramjit Singh and Teja Nidamanuru helped the Netherlands notch up their second-highest ODI score against South Africa.
Max O’Dowd and Singh took control of the innings; racing to an opening stand of 58, which was dominated by Singh’s attacking approach.
He challenged the South African attack and showed his intent with two massive sixes off Kagiso Rabada in the sixth over.
Marco Jansen, bowling from the Ekurhuleni end, troubled O’Dowd with a string of fast deliveries and the Dutchman eventually fell when he edged a Sisanda Magala delivery to De Kock behind the stumps.
Singh launched one more maximum before following his opening partner to the dug-out after mis-timing Magala’s slow delivery, caught by Bavuma at mid-off and was dismissed five short of a half-century.
The visitors lost their third wicket when South African-born Wesley Barresi hauled an Anrich Nortje delivery to Kagiso Rabada on the fine leg boundary.
The Netherlands skipper Scott Edwards and Musa’s attempt to wrestle momentum from the South Africans didn’t last as Edwards was lured into a drive off Nortje but he instead edged the ball to Jansen at slip. Musa nicked Tabraiz Shamsi and the visitors were in trouble at 105/5 after 26 overs.
The brilliant Nidamanuru mounted a fight back for the visitors but he fell for 48 when he edged Magala before Shamsi and Jansen cleaned-up the Netherlands tail for a resounding win for South Africa.
Magala and Shamsi ended with three scalps apiece, Nortje two and Markram and Jansen grabbed one wicket each.
South Africa is now tied on 88-points with the West Indies and will need to win in the Pink ODI against the same opponent tomorrow at the Bullring in Johannesburg, First ball is at 10:00.
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