South Africa beat Afghanistan by nine wickets here to claim their first victory of the 2019 ICC World Cup on Saturday.
Put into bat, Afghanistan crumbled to 125 all out with spinner Imran Tahir picking four wickets. The Proteas chased down their revised target of 127 (D/L method) in 28.4 overs with openers Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock putting up an opening stand of 104 runs.
Quinton de Kock top-scored with 68 as South Africa enjoyed a comfortable run-chase in pursuit of 127.#ProteaFire #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/zSpr7FIhq1
— ICC (@ICC) June 15, 2019
Afghanistan turned in yet another dismal performance with the bat and were no match to the South African pacers and Imran Tahir. Their innings had a prolonged interruption due to rain which led to the match being reduced to a 48 overs a side contest. This meant that while Afghanistan were dismissed for 125, South Africa had to chase down a D/L adjusted target of 147 to win the match.
Hazratullah Zazai and Noor Ali Zadran's opening stand of 39 turned out to be Afghanistan's best partnership of the match. Kagiso Rabada provided South Africa the breakthrough after which Chris Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo and Imran Tahir chipped away. By the time captain Gulbadin Naib was dismissed in the 26th over, Afghanistan were tottering at 77/7.
Afghanistan did grab one consolation wicket – #GulbadinNaib removed De Kock as the left-hander offered Mohammad Nabi a catch at midwicket. #AfghanAtalan pic.twitter.com/AekI7nnxTy
— ICC (@ICC) June 15, 2019
Rashid Khan then played a counter attacking cameo of 25 balls in which he scored scored 35 runs. His innings was punctuated by six fours. His dismissal was the penultimate wicket and Afghanistan were all out in the next two balls.
South Africa were cruising towards what looked like a 10-wicket victory when Naib dismissed de Kock for 68 (72 balls) in the 23rd over. Phehlukwayo, who was sent in at number three, and Amla then saw off the rest of the chase and South Africa secured their first win of the tournament.
What a way to finish things off! Andile Phehlukwayo smacks a six to give South Africa their first win of #CWC19#ProteaFire pic.twitter.com/SnTaonMsPU
— ICC (@ICC) June 15, 2019
Speaking after the match, an elated South African skipper Faf du Plessis said: "Today was a good day for us. We spoke a lot about it and today we were good. Given the nature of the wicket, conducive for seam bowlers, it would have been a challenge. It was important to get a good start, the wicket was not very conducive to spin."
Praising his bowlers, the South Africa skipper said: "Morris and Tahir were fantastic in the middle overs as they got wickets. He (Tahir) has single-handedly made us a strong team in the last two years with his ability to take wickets in the middle overs."
Imran Tahir and Chris Morris led the way for South Africa as the Proteas bowled Afghanistan out for 125.#ProteaFire #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/NPVBEXzrIu
— ICC (@ICC) June 15, 2019
Du Plessis however, also noted that in order to be in race for the knockouts, South Africa not only needs to win each game but also a decent net run rate by his batsmen.
"It was important for (Hashim) Amla to get amongst the runs, he will be important for us in the upcoming games. In the next four games, net run rate is not going to play a massive role if you win those games. So we need Amla to score runs for us, hence he needed a not-out innings today," he pointed out.
South Africa will now face New Zealand on June 19 while Afghanistan will take on hosts England a day before.