South Africa stamped their authority in a massive win over fellow World Cup title hopefuls New Zealand winning the match between the two top-half teams by 190 runs on Wednesday.
In the 32nd One Day International (ODI) of the International Cricket Council (ICC) match played at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune between South Africa and New Zealand.
Having won the toss, New Zealand skipper Tom Latham decided to bowl first. South Africa continued their fine form to reach big totals when batting first and ended up setting a target of 358 for the Kiwis to chase.
Quinton de Kock went on to score another century with Rassie van der Dussen also getting a ton to power South Africa past another 300-plus total. David Miller scored a half-century as South Africa also broke the record of most sixes hit by a team in a single tournament.
The Kiwi bowlers were sent all around the park with Trent Boult emerging as the most economical option. He got one wicket with James Neesham also picking up one. Veteran pacer Tim Southee got two wickets and that was about that.
New Zealand, who are missing Kane Williamson through injury, were off to the worst possible start losing opener Devon Conway for just two runs. That was a sign of things to come as the batting order failed to cope with the Proteas bowling attack.
New Zealand kept losing wickets at regular intervals as usual stars failed to strike. Daryl Mitchell, Rachin Ravindra, and Tom Latham, all failed to kick off. Glenn Phillips stood out as the lone warrior scoring a valiant 60, which was ultimately fruitless.
Keshav Maharaj emerged as the pick of the South African bowlers with four wickets to his name. Marco Jansen got another three as Gerald Coetzee picked two and Kagiso Rabada got one to wrap up the Kiwis innings.
With the win, South Africa temporarily move to top of the table ahead of India’s game, while New Zealand slipped to fourth behind Australia as the race for the top four heats up.
