SA v BAN, 1st ODI 2017, Review: South Africa crush Bangladesh by 10 wickets courtesy De Kock, Amla tons

South Africa have crushed Bangladesh by 10 wickets with more than 7 overs to spare in the first of the 3-match ODI series in Kimberley. The bowlers of the visiting side never challenged the openers Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla as they literally played with them until the end. Mohammad Saifuddin of Bangladesh and Dane Paterson of South Africa were handed their respective debuts at the international level in this game. Mustafizur Rahman twisted his ankle ahead of the game and hence missed the encounter.

Mashrafe Mortaza called correctly at the toss and opted to bat on a track which looked like a batting beauty. The legendary player AB de Villiers returned to the ODI side after a long gap of four months who has cleared recently that he will continue playing all the three formats of the game. However, the batting order of the visiting side looked brittle without their ace batsman Tamim Iqbal at the top as he couldn’t recover completely from his thigh injury.

Rahim scores a magnificent ton

The new opening pair of Imrul Kayes and Liton Das strode out to the middle and provided a decent start to their side. But both couldn’t convert their promising starts and were dismissed by Kagiso Rabada and Dwaine Pretorius. Then the experienced duo of Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim took the charge and formed a crucial partnership of 59 as the former was foxed by Imran Tahir and went on his marathon run. However, the wickets kept falling at regular intervals after that.

But only Rahim was the man who stood tall among other batsmen as his ally were throwing away their wickets unnecessarily. He played some wonderful strokes as completed his well-deserved century and became the first batsman of his country to score a century against the Proteas. He remained unbeaten until the end and smashed 110 runs off 116 deliveries with 11 boundaries and 2 sixes. It was only his efforts and some late hitting by lower order batsmen which propelled Bangladesh to a competitive total of 278/7 after their 50 overs. Rabada was their nemesis as he again scalped 4 wickets and conceded 43 runs in his ten overs.

The flawless chase

Bangladesh had posted a decent total on the board and it was expected that the wicket would slow down as the game progresses. But there was also a question mark on the ability of the seamers of the Men in Green in the absence of Mustafizur. De Kock and Amla started off cautiously and then launched an assault once they got their eye in. They did exactly what the opposition batsmen couldn’t do and that was converting the promising starts.

The toothless bowling attack was not able to create any chances as the duo brought up their half-centuries. De Kock, in particular, was severe and latched onto any width provided by the bowlers. At the halfway mark the visitors seemed to have given up and the batsmen never showed any mercy to them. Quinton reached his 13th ODI ton and displayed more aggression after that as Amla, like a routine scored another century, the third of the game, and finished the game in the 43rd over.

The only chance was created by Rubel Hossain when Amla chipped one back to him but the bowler couldn’t get his both hands to the ball and it was fluffed. The partnership was the record one for South Africa in their ODI history ever as de Kock slammed 168* off just 145 balls with 21 fours and a couple of sixes. Hashim Amla was calm and composed as usual and played second fiddle to the youngster. He remained unbeaten on 110 off 112 cherries and thumped the ball towards the boundary eight times. The bowlers were hapless as all the frontline bowlers went for almost 6 an over and at no point looked threatening. Bangladesh needs to improve their bowling if they are hoping to register even a single win on this tour.

Brief Scores:

Bangladesh: 278/7 after 50 overs (M Rahim 110*; K Rabada 4/43)

South Africa: 282/0 after 42.5 overs (De Kock 168*, H Amla 110*)

Man of the Match: Quinton de Kock