South Africa 6 for 315 (Ricelton 103, Bavuma 58, Markram 52*, Van Der Dusen 52, Nabi 2-51) Beat Afghanistan 208 (Rahmat 90, Rabada 3-36, Mulder 2-36, NGIDI 2-56) by 107 runs
This was a major innocent innings of Ricelton. He never saw; No, when Tony D fell quickly or when Bavuma took his time to go. Whenever he got a chance, Ricelton hit the boundaries. When he did not, he quietly rotated the strike. He started with a beautiful punch mid-off third ball before going back-to-back against Fazlahak Farooqui in the fifth over, once with a fierce bridge through midwicket with a fierce bridge and then with a cut previous point.
D Zorzi also hit two fours, but soon fell from Mohammad Nabi to a non-procession when he flopped it directly into the mid-on.
The first 19 balls of Bavuma scored only seven runs, before it got away from some fours to get into the groove. Meanwhile, Ricelton selected Azmatullah Omrajai for two delightful fours, so that fifty fifty can be collected off only 48 balls.
South Africa stood with 83 for 1 after 15 overs, but an important route of the game was about to come: South African batsman vs Afghanistan spinner. From here, Ricelton really showed his goods. He must have faced a lot of Rashid Khan in the SA20 NET as he was a part of the victorious Mi Cape Town, and was revealed by that experience.
Bavuma fell away from his second fifty from home, as he continued his rich look. He had a 129 -run stand for the second wicket with Ricelton, before the prophet chose his second wicket, before getting out of the deep midwicket.
By that time, Ricelton had moved in his 90s, and hardly broke a sweat. Afghanistan rarely helped themselves in the field. There were many Missfields, and a run-out chance was inflated, while Noor Ahmed was particularly off-call. He was either too small, or was very full, and often tried to dart the ball and lost his size.
Ricelton soon became the first South Africa batsman to register a century in a century at the beginning of the Champions Trophy.
Afghanistan got a lucky break when Ricelton was run in bizarre fashion. He returned a Rashid length ball to the bowler, who took out a flat throw to the wicketkeeper. Ricelton, out of his crease, was just a touch to the off-guards, and as he dived, his bat jumped just a little bit of the crease. This meant that even though his bat was above the line, it was in the air when Rahmanullah Gurbaz killed Bell.
However, there was no relief for Afghanistan. Van Der Duson was not coming into great Nick in the tournament, was fluent and Markram found both the batsmen with his progress with the recording of the fifties. The last five overs scored 51 runs South Africa, as they had posted an above equal.
To chase 316 for Afghanistan, it was mandatory for the guard to go. But South Africa’s new ball bowlers were not ready to give him an inch. NGIDi’s short-off-the-flambaired ball got better than Gurbaz as he got a top-edge for small legs. Number 3 Sedikullah Atal fought for a long time. Ibrahim Zadran finally broke the hut by hammering Rabada for a long time. It clearly did not please the bowler, who returned with 148.3kph Thunderbolt and sent to Stump Splat between Ibrahim.
South Africa pace bowlers focused on that difficult length. According to the ball-ball data of Espncricinfo, in the first 15 overs, 33 out of 33 balls bowled by South Africa were either short or shorter length.
Atal’s difficult innings, where he was beaten ten times and played 14 false shots in 32 balls, ended with a run-out. Soon after, Hashmatullah Shahidi fell for a stunning grip by Bavuma in mid-on, as Afghanistan was scoring 51 runs for 4 after 15 overs.
Rahmat was the only batsman to show some fighting for fifty off 62 balls. But with no batsman hanging from all around, Afghanistan was always struggling. The crowd of Karachi, who had come in numbers to support Afghanistan, found his voice when Rashid broke three fours and sixes in his 18 -run cameo off 13 balls. But in addition, there was very little to please the crowd.
Finally, Rahmat took Rabda to Rabda to Ricelton for 90, as South Africa registered their first ODI win after six attempts.
Ashish Pant is a sub-editor with espncricinfo
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