Men's ODI WC: Mahmudullah ton in vain as South Africa ride de Kock's 174, Klaasen's 90 to 149-run win

Mumbai, Oct 24 (IANS) South Africa's bowlers came up with a clinical performance after opener Quinton de Kock struck his third century in five matches, a 140-ball 174, while Heinrich Klassen blasted a 49-ball 90 to help their team beat Bangladesh by 149 runs in Match 23 of ICC Men's ODI World Cup 2023 at the Wankhede Stadium here on Tuesday. 

Electing to bat first, South Africa had slumped to 30/2 in the Power-play before de Kock, with help from skipper Aiden Markram (60) and Klassen (90 off 49 balls), not only guided them to safety but put up a massive score of 382/5 in 50 overs.

Led by de Kock and Klaasen, South Africa unleashed carnage in the last 10 overs, amassing 144 runs. David Miller belted an unbeaten 34 off 15 balls to further boost the South Africa innings. 

Their bowlers then took over as Marco Jansen claimed two wickets in two deliveries and Kagiso Rabada and Lizaard Williams one each as South Africa reduced Bangladesh to 42/4, thus ending their fight within in the first Power-play.

Senior batter Mahmudullah struck a brilliant run-a-ball 111 in a superb counter-attacking knock. But his effort went in vain as Bangladesh lost too many wickets early and were eventually all out for 233 in 46.4 overs, slumping to a 149-run defeat.

Mahmudullah waged a lone battle as he struck 11 boundaries and four maximums as he reached his century off 104 balls.

Bangladesh's hopes ended in the Power-play itself as Jansen sent back Tanzid Hasan (12), gloving a short one behind to Klaasen, and Najmul Hossain Shanto flicking into the keeper's hands for a first-ball duck, off successive deliveries. Things went south further when skipper Shakib Al Hasan got a thick outside edge to Klaasen off Lizzad Williams, making it 31/3 in the 8th over.

Mushfiqur Rahim (8), Litton Das, who scratched around for 22 runs off 44 balls, and Mehidy Hasan Miraz (11) got out cheaply and Bangladesh slumped to 81/6.

Mahmudullah added 41 runs for the seventh wicket with Nasum Ahmed (18) and raised a half-century partnership for the eighth wicket with Mustafizur Rahman (11) to give some respectability to the score and lessen the impact of the defeat a little.

Gerald Coetzee claimed three wickets for 62 runs while Jansen, Rabada and Williams claimed two wickets apiece. 

South Africa registered their third win in four matches and maintained their position in the top four. They however missed an opportunity to shore up their Net Run Rate by allowing Bangladesh to reach 233 from 81/6.

Earlier, Quinton de Kock, who started his World Cup campaign with a 100 in the opener against Sri Lanka on October 7 and followed it up with a 109 against Australia a few days later, capitalised on the good batting strip in hot and humid conditions, slamming 15 boundaries and seven maximums during an innings of pure class.

He was cautious when he needed to be after South Africa lost two early wickets, built his innings with patience as he blazed to his fifty and hundred and then used brute force to hammer the Bangladeshi bowlers to all corners of the ground as he nearly overtook his highest-ever ODI score of 178. 

In the process, Quinton de Kock became the highest-run scorer in the World Cup 2023, taking his total to 407, becoming the first batter to score 400 and overtaking Virat Kohli at 354 from five matches.

De Kock shared two big partnerships -- 131 for the third wicket with Aiden Markram (60) and 142 for the fourth wicket Heinrich Klassen as he rescued South Africa from a wobbly 30/2 after losing Rezza Hendrick (12) and Rassie van der Dussen (1) inside the Power-play.

The 30-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman from Johannesburg raced to his fifty in 47 balls, took 54 deliveries for his next fifty and then blazed his third fifty off just 28 balls. Overall his splendid knock of 174 came off 140 deliveries. 

De Kock blasted 22 runs off the 43rd over bowled by Shakib Al Hasan, hammering 6 4 6 4 and a single in the last five deliveries, bringing up his 150 in the process. He continued the carnage in the next over, hitting Shoriful Islam for successive boundaries -- De Kock hammering 29 runs off seven legal deliveries. Klassen rubbed salt into the wounds by blasting the fourth delivery of the match.

Just when it looked like he would play through the innings, de Kock was out, muzzling the ball down the throat of Nasum Ahmed at deep backward point. He walked off to an ovation from the sparse crowd. 

But Bangladesh's troubles were not over as Klaasen, who had matched QDK shot for shot during their century partnership, took over the mantle as he blasted some superb sixes to race to 90 off 49 balls. Klaasen struck two fours and eight sixes in another blazing knock following his 109 off 67 balls against England in the previous match.

Brief scores:

South Africa 382/5 in 50 overs (Quinton de Kock 174, Aiden Markram 60, Heinrich Klaasen 90; Hasan Mahmud 2-67) beat Bangladesh 233 all out in 46.4 overs (Mahmudullah 111; Gerald Coetzee 3-62, Marco Jansen 2-39, Kagiso Rabada 2-42, Lizaad Williams 2-56) by 149 runs

--IANS

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