Quinton de Kock on his way to his 20th career ODI century against Bangladesh. Picture: Indranil Mukherjee/AFP
Quinton de Kock struck another magnificent century to lay the foundation on Tuesday, as South Africa climbed to second place in the Cricket World Cup standings by charging to a comprehensive 149-run victory over Bangladesh in Mumbai.
Set a mammoth target of 383 runs to win, the Tigers were never really in contention in their chase, and while they fought back from 81/6, they were ultimately dismantled for 233.
Though the Proteas lost seamer Lungi Ngidi ahead of the match due to a knee injury, he was replaced by Lizaad Williams and the pace attack managed to combine well to rip through Bangladesh’s batting line-up.
Veteran middle-order batter Mahmudullah made 111 runs to carry a stubborn lower order, but the Tigers were unable to recover from a top-order collapse as they were bowled out in the 47th over.
The South Africans produced an all-round effort with the ball, with all five bowlers taking wickets, led by Gerald Coetzee who returned 3/62.
Earlier, after winning the toss and choosing to bat, South Africa lost two cheap wickets, but opener De Kock (playing his 150th ODI) and stand-in captain Aiden Markram worked together to steady the ship.
Leading the side again in the absence of regular skipper Temba Bavuma, who remained ill and was unavailable for their second game in a row, Markram contributed 60 runs in a 131-run partnership with De Kock for the third wicket.
After Markram was removed in the 31st over, De Kock then combined with Heinrich Klaasen in another big stand, picking up the run rate as they shared 142 runs.
De Kock eventually sliced a delivery from Hasan Mahmud to Nasum Ahmed who was waiting in the deep, but by that point the damage had been done, with the opener smashing 174 runs off 140 balls (including 15 fours and seven sixes).
With his third ton of the tournament, De Kock climbed to the top of the list of the tournament’s highest run scorers, having compiled 407 runs in just five games.
Klaasen, meanwhile, went on to make 90 runs off just 49 deliveries in an explosive innings which featured eight sixes.
While he was dismissed in the final over, falling just 10 runs short of his second successive ton, he played a key role in helping the Proteas reach a formidable total of 382/5.
South Africa settled in second place in the first-round standings. They were two points behind unbeaten hosts India in the round-robin table, but while they were equal on eight points with third-placed New Zealand, the SA team moved ahead of the Black Caps with a better net run-rate.
The SA team will have just two days rest, including travel, before their sixth match of the global showpiece to be played against Pakistan in Chennai on Friday.
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