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South Africa finally posted a win at the fifth time of asking at the Cricket World Cup when they beat lowly Afghanistan by nine wickets in a rain-shortened game at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff, Wales, yesterday evening.
Playing against the only team lying below them in the 10-team tournament, the Proteas – having amassed just one point from their rained-out game against the West Indies – were laboured in making the 127 runs they needed to win on the Duckworth-Lewis method in a game reduced to 48 overs a side.
Openers Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla, perhaps taking their cue from the team’s general malaise of late, began the chase sedately, only scoring 35 runs in the first power play.
But De Kock, who looked as out of sorts as Amla to begin with, led the charge with 68 off 72 balls (eight fours) to his batting partner’s unbeaten 41 off 83 balls (four fours) and a promoted Andile Phehlukwayo’s run-a-ball 17 as they finally sealed the deal with 19.2 overs to spare.
The win lifts the Proteas to seventh place on the table.
Their remaining matches in the tournament are against dark horses New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the menacing Australia.
After winning the toss and electing to field under cloud cover, the Proteas had to endure more fears about inclement weather as Afghanistan made it to 39 without loss before rain took the two sides off the field in a flashback of their rained-out game against the West Indies earlier in the week.
While they lost a combined 88 minutes to the rain breaks in the end, the Proteas – helped by a bowling attack that bowled as if it had plans for the evening in Cardiff – more than made up for lost time on the field by bowling out their opponents for 125 off 34.1 overs.
After miserly early spells by all-rounders Chris Morris and Phehlukwayo – who would go on to have respective figures of 3/13 off 6.1 overs and 2/18 off eight overs – leg spinner Imran Tahir was the instigator in chief, making inroads into Afghanistan’s top order and mopping up the tail for figures of 4/29 off seven overs.
The excitable Tahir got two wickets in his first over, bowling opener Noor Ali with his first ball before taking a return catch from Asghar Afghan four balls later as Afghanistan frittered away any semblance of having built a platform from which to build their innings.
