CWC2023: South Africa demolish New Zealand by 190 runs , moves closer to SFs

 

South Africa made their way to the semi-finals of the World Cup a little more secure.  Temba Bavuma's team crushed New Zealand by 190 runs in Pune on Wednesday.  They have 12 points in seven matches.  They topped India on net run rate.  On the other hand, New Zealand, who won the first four matches, are under a bit of pressure after losing three matches in a row.  Batting first on this day after losing the toss , South Africa scored a mammoth 357 runs for 4 wickets.  In reply, New Zealand's innings ended with 167 runs in 35.2 overs.

 Quinton de Kock is giving it his all in the last World Cup before retirement.  The South African wicketkeeper-batsman scored his fourth century in Pune's 22 yards.   He became the third batsman in the world to score four or more hundreds in a World Cup.  Touched Rohit Sharma and Kumar Sangakkara's records .  On this day, D'Kock's innings came from 116 balls of 114 runs. DeKock hit 10 fours and 3 sixes and all of them were delightful shots .  The other opener Bavuma (24) could not play a big innings though he looked in good nick .   DeKock made a partnership of 200 runs with Rassi van der Dussen, who came down at number three.  Dusen also scored his second century of the competition that day after a slow start .  He made 133 runs from 118 balls from his bat and hit 9 fours and 5 sixes and most of his strokes came in the later half of his innings .  South African batsmen scored eight centuries in this competition.  Sri Lanka had the highest number of centuries in a World Cup by any country.  The Proteas achieved that feat.

 David Miller also batted well at number four.  He scored 53 runs off 30 balls with the help of 2 fours and 4 sixes.  Henrik Klaasen (15 not out), Aiden Markram (6 not out) continued to play at the end.  James Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Tim Southee could not keep the line length right in front of Proteas' aggressive batting.  Matt Henry's hamstring injury also hampered New Zealand's bowling attack on the day.

The New Zealand batsmen could not take advantage of the target of 358 runs to win.  Devon Conway (2) was dismissed early caught in the slips off Jansen . Ravindra was out cheaply trying to pull Jansen.  The other opener Will Young (33) tried a bit but to no avail as he was caught behind off Coetzee. New Zealand lost wickets at regular intervals.  Daryl Mitchell (24 off 30 balls) and Glenn Phillips tried to fight back.  In the end, Phillips's fight was futile.  He played an innings of 60 off 50 balls with 4 fours and 4 sixes.   In the 16th over of the innings, after 4 wickets fell for 67 runs, New Zealand's hope of victory ended.  The rest of the match was a formality . 

 Among the South African bowlers, Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, the New Zealand bowlers had trouble handling. The South African quicks moved the ball under lights . The most successful Maharaj took 4 wickets for 46 runs.  Jansen's 3 wickets for 31 runs.  Gerald Coetzee took 2 wickets for 41 runs.  Van Dussen for his 100 was the player of the match .