South Africa beat England by 229 runs
Mumbai : In the second match of the ICC Men’s World Cup 2023 played on Saturday at the Wankhede Stadium, South Africa defeated England by a huge margin of 229 runs.
England’s decision to bowl first after winning the toss proved costly. South Africa made a huge score of 399 runs.
England’s batsmen, who came to chase the target of four hundred runs, could not withstand the pressure and the entire team could score only 170 runs for nine wickets in 22 overs. The last batsman Reece Topley could not take the field due to injury. The finger on his left hand was injured on the fifth ball of the seventh over of South Africa’s innings.
Half of the England team had returned to the pavilion at the score of 67 in the twelfth over. Three of his first four batsmen – Dawid Malan, Joe Root and Ben Stokes – could not even reach double figures.
At one time the England team had lost eight wickets for 100 runs in 16.3 overs. After this, Gus Atkinson (35 runs in 21 balls, four fours) and Mark Wood (43 not out in 17 balls, two fours, five sixes) made a quick partnership of 70 runs in 33 balls for the ninth wicket to some extent. Tried to save shame. Atkinson was bowled by Keshav Maharaj on the last ball of the 22nd over. After these two, Harry Brook scored the highest score of 17 runs for England.
For South Africa, Gerald Coetzee took three wickets for 35 runs in four overs. Lungi Ngidi and Marco Jensen took two wickets each, Rabada and Keshav Maharaj took one wicket each.
Earlier, with the brilliant century of Player of the Match Heinrich Klaasen (109) and the stormy innings of 75 unbeaten runs by Marco Jensen, South Africa made the best score of 399 runs for seven wickets in the World Cup match against England on Saturday.
Opener Reeza Hendricks played an excellent inning of 85 runs. Hendricks hit nine fours and three sixes in 75 balls. Rassie van der Dussen scored 60 and stand-in captain Aiden Markram scored 42 runs.
South Africa lost its fifth wicket at the score of 243, but after this, Klaasen and Jensen made an explosive partnership of 151 runs and took their team to a strong score.
“It feels good to contribute to the team,” Reeza Hendricks said after the innings. Had a good partnership with Rasi. We got a partnership after losing wickets. Klaasen played a brilliant innings. Klaasen played an innings when we needed it most.
Jensen hit three fours and six sixes in his unbeaten 75 runs in just 42 balls. South Africa batted aggressively in the last five overs and added 84 runs during this period. South Africa’s score of 399 runs is the best ODI score against England. He broke New Zealand’s record of 398 runs which it had set at the Oval in 2015.
For England, Chris Topley took three wickets for 88 runs, while Gus Atkinson and Adil Rashid took two wickets each.
–IANS
