South Africa 315 for 6 (Rickelton 103, Bavuma 58, Markram 52*, van der Dussen 52, Nabi 2-51) beat Afghanistan 208 (Rahmat 90, Rabada 3-36, Mulder 2-36, Ngidi 2-56) by 107 runs
It was a largely flawless innings from Rickelton from start to finish. He never looked rushed; not when Tony de Zorzi fell early or when Bavuma took his time to get going. Rickelton struck boundaries whenever he got a chance. When he didn’t, he quietly rotated the strike. He started with a lovely punch past mid-off third ball before going back-to-back against Fazalhaq Farooqi in the fifth over, once with a fierce pull through midwicket and then a cut past point.
De Zorzi also struck two fours but fell to a rather nonchalant delivery from Mohammad Nabi. Introduced in the attack in the sixth over, Nabi’s first ball was a drag-down on off stump. De Zorzi could have walloped that anywhere; instead, he flopped it straight to mid-on.
Bavuma walked in at No. 3 and took his time to settle in. His first 19 balls yielded only seven runs before he got a couple of fours away to get into the groove. Rickelton, meanwhile, picked Azmatullah Omarzai for two delightful fours to raise his fifty off just 48 balls.
South Africa ticked along to 83 for 1 after 15 overs, but an important passage of play was about to come: South Africa batters vs Afghanistan’s spinners. That’s where Rickelton really showed his wares. With both him and Rashid Khan part of MI Cape Town in the SA20, he would have faced a lot of Rashid in the nets, and that experience showed.
Between overs 11 and 20, South Africa scored 58 runs without taking much of a risk. Bavuma, too, got to his fifty, only his second away from home, as he continued his rich form. He had a solid 129-run stand for the second wicket with Rickelton, before holing out to deep midwicket as Nabi picked his second wicket.
By that time, Rickelton had moved into his 90s, and had hardly broken a sweat in doing so. Afghanistan hardly helped themselves in the field, too. There were innumerable misfields, and a run-out chance was fluffed, while Noor Ahmad was particularly off-colour. He was either too short, or too full, and often tried to dart the ball in and lost his shape.
Rickelton strolled through his 90s and became the first South Africa batter to register a century on Champions Trophy debut with a push to long-off.
Afghanistan got a lucky break when Rickelton was run-out in bizarre fashion. He bunted a Rashid length ball back to the bowler, who fired a flat throw to the wicketkeeper. Rickelton, out of his crease, was caught off-guard just a touch, and as he put in the dive, his bat bounced just short of the crease. That meant even though his bat was over the line, it was in the air when Rahmanullah Gurbaz whipped the bails off.
But if Afghanistan hoped for any respite, they weren’t getting any. Van der Dussen, coming into the tournament not in great nick, was fluent in his stroke play. At the other end, Markram found his stride as well, with both batters recording fifties. The last five overs yielded South Africa 51 runs as they posted an above-par total.
For Afghanistan to chase down 316, it was imperative for Gurbaz to get going. But South Africa’s new-ball bowlers weren’t ready to give him an inch. Ngidi’s short-of-a-length ball got the better of Gurbaz as he got a top-edge to Keshav Maharaj at short fine leg. Sediqullah Atal, coming in at No. 3, struggled big time. Ibrahim Zadran finally broke the shackles by hammering Rabada over wide long-on. That obviously did not please the bowler, who returned with a 148.3kph thunderbolt and sent Ibrahim’s middle stump splat.
The South Africa pacers concentrated on that hard length. According to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data, in the first 15 overs, 33 of the balls bowled by South Africa were either short or short-of-a-good length.
Atal’s difficult innings, where he was beaten ten times and played 14 false shots in the 32 balls he faced, ended with a run-out. Soon after, Hashmatullah Shahidi fell thanks to a stunning catch by Bavuma at mid-on as Afghanistan stumbled to 51 for 4 after 15 overs.
Rahmat was the only batter who showed some fight as he cruised to fifty off 62 balls. But with none of the batters hanging around, Afghanistan were always struggling. The Karachi crowd, which had come in numbers to support Afghanistan, found their voice when Rashid smashed three fours and a six in his cameo of 18 off 13 balls. But apart from that, there was little for the crowd to cheer.
Rahmat was the last batter to fall, edging Rabada to Rickelton for 90, as South Africa registered their first ODI win after six attempts.
Ashish Pant is a sub-editor with ESPNcricinfo
