Heinrich Klaasen continued his rich vein of form in the ongoing World Cup as he slammed a jaw-dropping century to script South Africa’s crushing 229-run victory over England at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Saturday (October 21).
Klaasen came out to bat at No. 5 when the team was placed at 164/3 in the 26th over. The stage was set for him to unleash his wide range of strokes and he did exactly the same.
Klaasen completed his half-century off 40 balls and then went berserk. Despite struggling with cramps, the right-hander kept dealing in boundaries and notched up his fourth ODI hundred in just 61 deliveries.
Heinrich Klaasen was eventually dismissed in the final over for 109 off 67 balls. His whirlwind knock, including 12 fours and 4 sixes, propelled the Proteas to a gigantic 399/7 in 50 overs.
After the game, Klaasen termed this knock against the defending champions as one of his finest.
"It is up there with my best ever, I have been hitting the ball nicely, but the conditions were brutal out there," Klaasen said.
"It is proper heat that saps all the energy out of you. Quinny (Quinton de Kock) came upstairs and said, ‘Don’t run your ones too hard, make sure you can walk a quarter of your runs, save energy’.
"The heat was extreme. They (England bowlers) looked like they were physically under the pump."
During his innings, Klaasen added 151 runs for the sixth wicket with all-rounder Marco Jansen, who stayed unbeaten on 75 off 42 balls.
"He was next level, he kept me going and told me I can’t walk off the field unless I get a hundred," Klaasen said. "He has been phenomenal and has worked so hard on his batting, so for him to come off like that under this kind of pressure was so vital for us."
South Africa entered into this match on the back of a shocking 38-run loss to Netherlands. No wonder, they were pleased to be able to bounce back against the reigning world champions.
"It was a tough loss, but we know we are playing good cricket and one bad performance doesn’t make us a bad team," Klaasen said. "We had some hard chats to be honest and the boys bounced back (well)."
(With Reuters Inputs)
