Quinton de Kock hit his fourth century of the World Cup 2023 while Rassie van der Dussen cracked his second as South Africa thrashed New Zealand by 190 runs on Wednesday to take a step closer to the semi-finals.
Set to chase a daunting 358, the in-form New Zealand batting lineup failed and could only raise 167 before being bundled out in the 36th over.
Middle-order batter Glenn Phillips waged a lone battle for New Zealand with a gutsy half-century, scoring 60 off 50 with the help of four boundaries and four sixes.
Opening batter Will Young (33) and Daryl Mitchell (24) were the other significant contributors for New Zealand while the rest of their batters failed to amass the double figures.
Keshav Maharaj led the bowling attack for South Africa with 4/46, followed by Marco Jansen’s 3/31.
Quinton de Kock and Rassie van der Dussen formed a powerful tandem that further cemented South Africa’s supremacy. Together with De Kock’s incredible 113, Van der Dussen’s well-compiled 133 demonstrated their brilliant combination of prudence and aggressiveness.
In the middle of the thrilling cricket match, an intriguing occurrence happened on the ground that got the interest of both spectators and commentators.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) posted a video on its official Twitter account where New Zealand Pacer was seen shadow practice a specific stroke during a break in South Africa’s batting innings.
He made full use of the practice and executed his shot to perfection, leaving everyone stunned.
The video was captioned: “Exactly what Boult was practicing”.
You can watch the video below:
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Today’s victory, which ended South Africa’s run of five straight first World Cup defeats by New Zealand since 1999, left the Proteas, bidding for a first one-day international (ODI) World Cup title, virtually assured of a semi-final spot.
But New Zealand’s third loss of the tournament was a blow to their hopes of reaching the last four as they slipped to fourth in the table with eight points, two ahead of Pakistan as well as Afghanistan who have a game in hand.
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