South Africa produced a clinical performance in the ICC World Cup 2023 on Thursday as they crushed five-time champions Australia by 134 runs in Lucknow to dethrone New Zealand from the top spot of the points table.
Chasing a mammoth 312 for victory, the Australian innings folded for just 177 in 40.5 overs to suffer their second successive defeat from as many matches in this ODI World Cup.
The Aussies in fact, have now lost their last four matches at the ODI World Cup for the first time in the tournament's 48-year-old history.
"Don’t think much needs to be said tonight, everyone’s hurting, we’ll try and take a couple of days off and then make amends to come back stronger in the next one. There’s a few things we need to tidy up," dejected Australia captain Pat Cummins said after the match
Batting failure and dropped catches
Marnus Labuschagne's 46 was the only knock of any significance while the rest all got starts but failed to convert them into big scores.
The lack of partnerships hurt the Aussies they kept losing wickets at regular intervals throughout the chase which led to their downfall.
Kagiso Rabada was the wrecker-in-chief with 3 wickets for 33 runs while Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi bagged a couple of scalps each to round off a convincing bowling performance for the Proteas.
They also dropped six catches in the first innings which contributed massively to their defeat.
Quinny fires again for the Proteas
But the match was set up by South African opener Quinton de Kock, who smashed his second successive World Cup hundred to help the team post 311 for 7 on the board after being asked to bat first.
De Kock, who will be retiring from ODIs after this World Cup, top-scored with 109 off 106 balls with 8 fours and five sixes to lead South Africa's charge with the bat. Aiden Markram (56) and captain Temba Bavuma (35) played the perfect supporting acts to de Kock.
"A great win for the boys, assessed conditions well, played accordingly, stuck to our strengths and came out on top.
"We are pretty pleased with ourselves, but only two games in, anything can happen, and quickly, won't get too high, just take it game by game," Player of the Match de Kock said after the game.
Australia will next take on Sri Lanka in a must-win clash for both sides in Lucknow on October 16 while South Africa will face the Netherlands in their third match on October 17 in Dharamsala.
