Cape Town — The Proteas bowlers have done their part in South Africa’s quest to qualify for the ICC World Cup in India later this year.
The hosts need to gain maximum ICC World Super League points from their two ODIs against the Netherlands, and the bowlers certainly pitched up at Willowmoore Park in Benoni on Friday to dismiss the Dutch for 189 in 46.1 overs.
It was an inauspicious start though from the home side, with Kagiso Rabada in particular delivering an off-colour performance with the new ball. This allowed Vikramjit Singh to play freely, especially when Rabada drifted the ball onto his pads, which allowed him to flick the ball comfortably to the boundary.
The Dutch capitalised on the poor start from the Proteas with Singh and Max O’Dowd bringing up a 50-run partnership for the first wicket in just the ninth over.
Marco Jansen, who was back in the starting XI for Wayne Parnell, tried to keep things tight from the other end before the introduction of Sisanda Magala.
The burly all-rounder struck in his second over to bring about the all-important opening breakthrough when he found O’Dowd’s outside edge in the 11th over. O’Dowd departed for 11 and the Netherlands were 58/1.
Singh, though, was not perturbed by the loss of his opening partner as he struck his third six of his innings shortly afterwards when he despatched Magala over mid-wicket.
However, Magala claimed his revenge when he rushed Singh (45, 53b, 4x4, 3x6) with a rising delivery that the opener could only manage to sky to a diving Temba Bavuma at mid-on.
The Dutch innings filtered away from that moment as they lost their remaining eight wickets for 118 runs. Anrich Nortje’s pace was too much to handle for the Dutch with the fiery fast bowler dismissing Wesley Barresi (7) and captain Scott Edwards (5) in quick succession.
Left-arm wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi also returned to form after suffering a mauling in the previous series against the West Indies as he bamboozled the Dutch batters. Shamsi claimed 3/25 on a good afternoon out on the East Rand.
Magala, though, was the pick of the bowlers as he returned to claim the only other Dutch batter Teja Nidamanuru that offered up any resistance. Nidamanuru played neatly for his 48 (71 balls, 3x4) but could only manage to feather a catch behind to wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock. Magala finished with the impressive figures of 3/37 before Jansen closed out the innings.
Scorecard
Netherlands: 189 all out (Nidamanuru 48, Singh 45, Shamsi 3/25, Magala 3/37)
South Africa require 190 to win
IOL Sport