Manchester, July 6:
Skipper Faf Du Plessis hit a fluent 100 and Rassie van der Dussen raised a career-best 95 to steer South Africa to a challenging 325 for six against Australia in their last league stage World Cup match, here today.
Aiming to sign off on a high, South Africa elected to bat and openers Aiden Markram (34) and Quinton de Kock (52) came out with positive intent.
Du Plessis and Van der Dussen carried forward the good work on a batting friendly pitch with their 151-run stand for the third wicket and in the process, the South African skipper raised his 12th ODI century.
After taking some time, Du Plessis worked the ball around nicely in the middle overs while Van der Dussen shifted gears in the latter stage of the innings.
Du Plessis’ 100 came off 94 balls with seven fours and two sixes.
Dussen raised team’s 300 with a six off Pat Cummins but could not pull off a six in the last ball of the match to get his maiden ODI hundred. He holed out to Glenn Maxwell, looking for that big shot.
Nevertheless, he helped his team’s cause and hit four sixes and as many fours in his entertaining knock.
JP Duminy’s last ODI innings for South Africa yielded 14 runs.
The Proteas openers timed the ball nicely and raised a 79-run stand in quick time, not sparing even Mitchell Strac, one of the best in business.
Markram stroked beautifully on the off-side while De Kock too was a delight to watch.
Markram, when on 32, offered a difficult chance to Behrendorff but the pacer could grab it. However, he did not last long and was stumped off Nathan Lyon.
The off-spinner soon sent back De Kock, who miscued one straight to Starc at backward point.
Realising that spinners are getting purchase from the wicket, Glenn Maxwell was employed and he did trouble the batsmen. He could have got wicket of Van der Dussen but Alex Carey missed a stumping chance. He was on 4 at that time.
The run rate took a beating after those wickets but Dussen and Plessis gradually shifted gears in their partnership.
India can top the table if they beat Sri Lanka and South Africa too get the better of Australia. In that scenario, India will play New Zealand in the semifinals while the defending champions have to contend with hosts England.
A victory can help the Proteas finish on number seven in the table. PTI