South Africa defeated Australia by 134 runs in the 10th World Cup 2023 game at Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium on Thursday, knocking New Zealand off the top spot. A huge win boosted Proteas’ run rate to +2.364.Africa, New Zealand, India, and Pakistan have won their opening two games.
Australia, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and the Netherlands lost both games. Bangladesh won one and the defending champs lost one. Australia collapsed in pursuit of 312 with Proteas pacers outperforming the five-time champions. Kagiso Rabada took 3/33, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, and Tabraiz Shamsi each took two wickets.
World Cup 2023 points standings after South Africa beat Australia
The five-time World champions were bowled out for 177 despite fight from Marnus Labuschagne (46), Mitchell Starc (27), and Pat Cummins (22). Quinton de Kock’s second consecutive century helped South Africa score 311-7 against a lackluster Australia team that dropped five catches.
De Kock, 30, scored his 19th ODI century in 90 balls with eight fours and five sixes before retiring at the end of the competition. He had scored a century in South Africa’s first win over Sri Lanka.
In the 35th over, off-spinner Glenn Maxwell knocked him out for 109 while attempting a reverse sweep. Markram took advantage of Australia’s skipper Pat Cummins’ dropped catch to reach 56 after scoring a single. He had earlier achieved the fastest World Cup century in 49 balls against Sri Lanka.
Australia had a bad day on the field when South Africa’s skipper, Temba Bavuma, was dropped twice at 19 and 32. Mitchell Marsh dropped Virat Kohli at 12 in their opener. Kohli scored 85 to win the match. After scoring 35, Bavuma was caught at midwicket by David Warner off Maxwell.
The skipper and De Kock shared 108 runs for the first wicket. After Cummins dismissed Markram, Marco Jansen (26) and David Miller (17) helped the Proteas reach 300 runs. Miller and Jansen were dismissed in the final over by Mitchell Starc’s double-wicket maiden. After Starc dropped Miller and Marcus Stoinis gave Jansen a second opportunity off Cummins, they should have been dismissed in the penultimate over.
