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Klaasen scores fifth successive fifty, wants to be ‘the best in the world’

admin — Sat, 01 Mar 2025 17:00:21 +0000

Heinrich Klaasen has revealed that he wants to prove he is “the best in the world”, after his 64 off 56 balls helped South Africa cruise to a seven-wicket win over England on Saturday, confirming their place in the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy.

Klaasen missed South Africa’s first match of the tournament with an elbow problem but extended his impressive 50-overs form against England in Karachi. He made his fifth consecutive ODI half-century, and scored freely from No. 4 as South Africa romped to their target of 180 inside 30 overs.

Speaking to Sky Sports after Saturday’s match, Klaasen revealed that, along with head coach Rob Walter, he had set himself a lofty ambition to prove himself as the world’s best player over the course of the Champions Trophy. “I gave myself a challenge with Rob Walter this trip: I want to be the best in the world,” Klaasen said.

“But I want to be the best in the world, and I know I can play situations well and for me, just to keep hitting it on the ground for as long as possible, like I did tonight [is important]. I’m quite pleased with my innings tonight. [I scored runs] by standing still and just trusting my technique. I know my swing is good, so as long as it clicks then I am quite happy.”

As if to underline the point about hitting along the ground, Klaasen hit 11 fours and no sixes before he was caught at short third, trying to hit the winning runs off Adil Rashid with six runs required. “I want to jump off this building, the way I went out tonight,” he joked, but said he was happy with his recent form, and explained that he has looked to keep things simple in training since his elbow injury.

“I think I’m very blessed at the moment where I’m with my game, and understanding my game quite well,” he said. “I’m not a guy that faces all our seamers in the nets. I just do a couple of drills and face a little bit of spin. At the moment, I’m meeting the ball out of the middle of the bat. That’s my piece that I go with, and as long as my technique is good, I’m quite happy.”

Klaasen, 33, has been in career-best form since turning 30 and said that he has tried to keep things as simple as possible, reacting to each ball rather than premeditating. “It’s about standing there still,” he said. “It was about three years ago that I really worked hard on that, just standing there still, not premeditating the game too much.”

Aiden Markram, who stood in as South Africa’s captain for the unwell Temba Bavuma, said of Klaasen: “It’s always great to see him out in the middle. He’s been in a ridiculous patch of form over the last many months, and for him to walk out after having a little niggle on his elbow and for it to look like he’d never really left is a great sign for us.”

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All-but-through SA hope to pile more misery on out-of-contention England

admin — Sat, 01 Mar 2025 00:49:22 +0000

Big picture: All eyes on Buttler

What could have been a quarter-final is all but a dead rubber as Group B closes out with the meeting of two heavyweights. England are already out of semi-final contention, and will soon have to go down a spiral of introspection over their poor ODI showings, starting with the decision of Jos Buttler to step down as captain. South Africa are all but through to the last four (all but the the most outlandish of heavy defeats will see them through ahead of Afghanistan following Friday’s washout), and it will be their third successive appearance in the knockouts of an ICC event. It will also vindicate white-ball coach Rob Walter’s assertion that when they have a full-strength squad available, they can challenge the best.

Some may not even consider England worthy of the label at the moment, but they are the highest-ranked opposition South Africa will actually play against at this tournament so far, after their fixture against Australia was also washed out. South Africa’s first match was a week ago against Afghanistan, who they beat comfortably in Karachi, the same venue as this game. England, though, lost to Afghanistan for the second successive time in a big ODI event, and will wonder if the gulf between themselves and South Africa is as wide as the margin of results against Afghanistan suggests.

The evidence of the last World Cup hints at that, after South Africa galloped to a 229-run thrashing of England in Mumbai. Before that, South Africa beat England 2-1 in an ODI series thrust into the middle of the inaugural SA20 which ensured their qualification for that World Cup. In some ways, that series signalled a turning point for both sides: South Africa began rebuilding, and results have largely been positive, while England – though they won ODI series against Bangladesh, New Zealand and Ireland in 2023 – have lost their last four bilateral contests and appear out of sorts at major tournaments.

They won’t want to leave this one without having some say. An attack of Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone will be a challenge for South Africa, who will hope to hit back by solidifying their own batting strategy ahead of a likely semi-final.

South Africa: WLLLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
England: LLLLL

In the spotlight: Joe Root and Wiaan Mulder

After leading the run-scoring list at one stage in the SA20 and ultimately finishing eighth, Joe Root became a fan favourite in South Africa – and especially among Paarl Royals supporters – and they would like to take some credit for his current form. He is currently third in this year’s Champions Trophy’s batting charts, and has already contributed a fifty and a hundred – the latter his first in 40 ODIs since 2019. But Root would love to be able to make a significant score in a winning cause. He is as familiar with South Africa’s attack as they are with him, and may see this as an opportunity to show his dominance against them and in an England line-up set for a shake up.

Wiaan Mulder has gone from a fringe player to one of the must-haves in a South Africa side which already has one seam-bowling allrounder in Marco Jansen. Mulder plays a completely different role to Jansen, whose left-arm angle, express pace and ability to generate bounce is one of South Africa’s premier modes of attack. Mulder, meanwhile, offers seam movement and a hint of swing, and has worked hard on both his consistency and his batting, which gives South Africa the luxury of a fourth seamer and a lengthened line-up. There were some glimpses of his batting ability with his brief innings of 12 from six balls against Afghanistan, where he also took 2 for 36 in nine overs in an under-rated but important contribution.

Injuries continue to mount for England. Mark Wood is set to see a specialist in the UK next week after suffering a left knee injury against Afghanistan. Saqib Mahmood could play his 13th ODI in Wood’s place. And, of course, this will be Buttler’s last game in charge.

England (probable): 1 Phil Salt, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Jamie Smith (wk), 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Jos Buttler (capt), 7 Liam Livingstone, 8 Jamie Overton, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Saqib Mahmood

Heinrich Klaasen has been declared “fine and available for selection” by Walter after he missed the match against Afghanistan due to an elbow injury. With Klaasen slotting into the middle order, that will force South Africa to leave one of their top-order players out. On form, that is likely to be Tony de Zorzi, with Ryan Rickelton partnering Temba Bavuma at the top, and Rassie van der Dussen to slot in at No. 3. South Africa’s attack could remain unchanged, though, which means space for only one specialist spinner.

South Africa (probable): 1 Temba Bavuma (capt), 2 Ryan Rickelton, 3 Rassie van der Dussen, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 6 David Miller, 7 Wiaan Mulder, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Keshav Maharaj, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Lungi Ngidi

The most important news, given the way things have gone over the last few days, is that a clear day is forecast for Karachi, which has thus far also been a high-scoring venue. In the two previous matches played there in this tournament, the team batting first has scored over 300 and won the game convincingly. South Africa were one of those teams, and they believed they could have topped up their 315 for 6 against Afghanistan and know what’s possible after their experience in these conditions in a tri-series over the last month. England have been involved in two high-scoring games and fallen short both times, and may be wondering how much is enough. In their last hurrah, they may want to reinforce that their batting blueprint is not just entertaining but successful as well.

“If you look at the quality of the players, the English players are quality. In league cricket around the world, they do well, which should suggest that they’re adaptable. If you look at the names on the sheet, there’s some quality players there. There’s no doubt about that. Cricket can be fickle and sport can be fickle, and sometimes that results in you losing. There’s good cricketers that, to be honest, could turn out tomorrow and deliver an international standard performance against us.”
South Africa white-ball coach Rob Walter on why his team is expecting a fight from England in their final appearance at this year’s Champions Trophy

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Dane Paterson gets Lord’s chance ahead of World Test Championship final

admin — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 16:48:51 +0000

Paterson, 35, took five-wicket hauls in both of the Tests he played in South Africa’s home summer, against Sri Lanka in Gqerbha, and against Pakistan at Centurion. He has signed a contract which covers Middlesex’s first seven Championship fixtures – including four games at Lord’s, where South Africa will face Australia in the WTC final.

Across four seasons with Nottinghamshire, Paterson took 180 Championship wickets at 23.25, including seven five-wicket hauls, but the club have opted not to renew his contract. He will instead join Middlesex, and will hope to spearhead their attack after Ethan Bamber’s departure to Warwickshire over the winter.

“It’s an honour to be joining Middlesex,” Paterson said. “I will do my best to give Middlesex the best chance of getting promoted back to Division One again, where the club belongs. I can’t wait to be playing at Lord’s – such a prestigious ground – and I’m just really excited about the challenge that lies ahead.

“Whilst obviously I’m sad not to be returning to Trent Bridge after what has been an amazing four years, I’ll always treasure the time I’ve spent there. It quickly became a home away from home for me and I made friendships in the dressing room which I’m sure will last a lifetime.”

Australia’s Cameron Green (Gloucestershire) and Beau Webster (Warwickshire) will also use the Championship to prepare for the final, with many other likely participants involved in either the IPL or PSL during the April-May window.

Middlesex did not sign an overseas player last year due to financial constraints but Paterson is the third they have announced this month, after Kane Williamson and Josh Little. They have also brought in Zafar Gohar, the Pakistan-born spinner, as a local player thanks to his British passport, and signed Ben Geddes from Surrey as a replacement for Mark Stoneman.

Alan Coleman, Middlesex’s director of cricket, said: “We are really pleased to get this signing secured as Dane is a player that will bring an enormous amount of quality to our pace attack and is someone that can make a real impact for us in the first half of the season.

“He has proven throughout the four-years he spent with Nottinghamshire that he has all the attributes needed to succeed in English conditions, and he brings with him a wealth of experience, built up over many years on both the domestic and international stages.”

Elsewhere, Durham have announced the signing of Brendan Doggett, the South Australia seamer who recently played for Australia A against England Lions. Doggett is only eligible for a short-term visa but is due to arrive in time to face Warwickshire on April 11 and will be at Durham for the early weeks of the 2025 season.

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‘Possible it’s my last ICC tournament’ – van der Dussen at peace with uncertainty over future

admin — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 00:29:02 +0000

While most in South African white-ball cricket see every step of the next two years as building their path to the home ODI World Cup in 2027, Rassie van der Dussen can entertain the idea that the Champions Trophy 2025 could be his last multi-team event.

Van der Dussen turned 36 earlier this month and currently plays only one format for South Africa, though he has been capped in all three. As he gets older and a younger crop of batters start coming through, he has accepted that his time in the team will not be forever.

“It’s definitely a possibility that it’s my last ICC tournament. I’m not saying that with any preconceived ideas that I’ll call time on it or management will call time on my career. It’s just the reality,” van der Dussen said from Karachi, where South Africa are preparing for their last group stage match against England.

“It’s such a great thing that there’s so many young players coming through, guys really playing well. A guy like Tristan Stubbs, he’s sitting on the sidelines. Or Tony de Zorzi. And even if you go into the domestic structure, Matthew Breetzke came in and made that 150. You can even go further back, Lhuan-dre Pretorius just made hundred against Western Province in the one-day cup. Ryan’s [Rickelton] only starting out now actually so there’s so many good players. I’m not blind to the possibility that if I don’t perform that someone won’t be there to take my place. I certainly don’t expect any preferential treatment because I think in a healthy environment, guys push each other organically and that pushes everyone to be better.”

Three of the players van der Dussen mentioned – Stubbs, de Zorzi and Rickelton – are in South Africa’s Champions Trophy squad and along with him are competing for, at most, two spots in the top order. One of those positions is to open alongside captain Temba Bavuma – and that role has shifted between de Zorzi and Rickelton – and the other to bat at No.3 (though both de Zorzi and Rickelton both played the tournament opener against Afghanistan as Heinrich Klaasen was out injured). Since 2019, van der Dussen has been South Africa’s most regular No.3 and with good reason – he has their third-highest batting average in ODIs and has built a reputation for reliability. But over the last year, that has started to wane.

Before his 52 against Afghanistan, van der Dussen had gone 10 innings without a half-century and it has been 13 since the last time he scored a hundred. Though there is no suggestion of it – and him being at a press conference suggests also no danger of it – when Klaasen returns to full fitness, van der Dussen himself could be in the firing line if all of Bavuma, de Zorzi and Rickelton are retained.

South Africa are yet to reveal any information on Klaasen’s elbow but have said he is fit to play against England. In that case, it is more likely de Zorzi will sit out and van der Dussen could get a shot at a title he has been working towards. “For me I always wanted to get to the Champions Trophy, which is now, and then we’ll reassess after that,” he said. “My national contract is coming up at the end of April.

“My ultimate goal has always been to play for the Proteas. People are asking me, are you going to play leagues afterwards? I don’t know if the prospect of not playing for the Proteas goes away, I’ll have that hunger to play in the leagues.”

Rassie van der Dussen

“I’ll have discussions with Rob [Walter] and with Enoch [Nkwe, director of national teams and high performance] and see where they see me and what my role is going forward. I feel like I’m playing well. Physically, I’m putting a lot of time into my body. If I’m still good enough in two years, I’d like to think that I’m in the mix. If not, if other guys are pushing me and I can’t keep up with the youngsters, then that’s also fine.”

Unlike some players in the twilight of their careers around the world – Trent Boult, Devon Conway and Tabraiz Shamsi are some examples – van der Dussen does not appear inclined to reject a national contract for league opportunities.

“My ultimate goal has always been to play for the Proteas,” van der Dussen said. “People are asking me, are you going to play leagues afterwards? I don’t know. I don’t know if the prospect of not playing for the Proteas goes away, I’ll have that hunger to play in the leagues. Representing my country has always been one of my big and only goals so if that falls away, I’m not sure what I’m going to do. If I’m offered another contract, I’ll definitely take it and commit for that time period.”

And even if that contract does not take him all the way to 2027, van der Dussen wants to play a part in helping South Africa’s ODI side move towards their best ahead of the home World Cup. “I would suspect that from a management point of view, your 2027 World Cup side has to start playing more regularly and start playing together. But there’s a lot of leagues happening in the next few months and everyone won’t be available all the time, so even if it’s in a transitional sort of role, I’ll definitely commit to that. Being here is for me the ultimate thing. Leagues are nice, but that’s not my be-all and end-all.”

He confirmed that while he has not retired from red-ball cricket in “the last year or two of my career, I can’t see myself playing any more red-ball cricket,” and that he turned down an offer to do so later this year. “I did have a county offer thrown my way which I declined.”

Instead, he is focusing on upskilling his short format game and seeing how far it takes him. “I’ve played in a few leagues and done well. Even leagues like T10 have taken my game forward. That’s why I’m feeling now that I’m still hungry and I’m still playing well.”

As things stand, South Africa have at least one more Champions Trophy game and, depending on the outcome of the Australia-Afghanistan match, may not even need to win it to progress to the semi-finals. They take on England, who are already eliminated but who van der Dussen believes could still be dangerous opposition. “We were always coming into this match saying that it will possibly be a quarter-final type of situation. Whoever wins that will go through. A little bit changes for them because they can’t go through anymore but for us, it’s a match against England. We don’t need any extra motivation to play England.”

Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s correspondent for South Africa and women’s cricket

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Van der Dussen: ‘Don’t have to be a rocket scientist’ to know India have advantage

admin — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 16:28:52 +0000

South Africa are not in a position to think about this yet but should they need to travel to Dubai for a Champions Trophy semi-final or final, they will be at a disadvantage compared to their opposition: India, who are based in the UAE. That’s according to top-order batter Rassie van der Dussen, who said you “don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know” that the ability to train and play in one place coupled with the absence of any inter-city or inter-country travel gives India an edge that they will be under pressure to fully exploit.

“It’s definitely an advantage. I saw that Pakistan was commenting about it, but it’s definitely an advantage. If you can stay in one place, stay in one hotel, practise in the same facilities, play in the same stadium, on the same pitches every time, it’s definitely an advantage,” van der Dussen said from Karachi, where South Africa will play their last group game against England. “I don’t think you have to be a rocket scientist to know that. The onus would be on them to use that advantage. In a sense, it puts more pressure on them because whoever is going to play them in the semi or potentially the final is going to go there and the conditions are going to be foreign but they [India] are going to be used to it. The pressure would be on them to get it right because they have all that knowledge.”

The Champions Trophy is being played on a hybrid model after India were refused permission by their government to travel to Pakistan, the official hosts, and the ICC board voted in favour of their matches, including any against Pakistan, being held at a neutral venue. Pakistan will be given the same treatment for events held in India for the duration of the current event cycle, which lasts until 2027. Last week, Pakistan travelled to Dubai to play in their marquee clash against India and lost, which ultimately saw them exit the tournament at the group stage. Van der Dussen referred to comments their head coach Aaqib Javed made in the aftermath where he played down suggestions that India had the upper hand from the outset.

“See, they are in Dubai for a reason,” Aaqib said. “If they are playing in Dubai for a reason, definitely if you play on the same pitch or ground, you will have an advantage. But we are not losing because they had the advantage of the same hotel and pitch (laughs). It’s not just because of the pitch, and neither did they play some ten matches there.”

But absent Australia captain Pat Cummins also saw things from van der Dussen’s perspective, when he told Yahoo Sports Australia that India would hold a “huge advantage” from playing all their matches in Dubai. “I think it’s good that the tournament can go on, but obviously it does give them [India] a huge advantage playing on the same ground.” He said. “They already look very strong and they’ve got that obvious benefit of playing all their games there.”

One of the gains India has is the certainty that comes with knowing the venue of all their games, including the knockouts, while other teams will have to wait to confirm their arrangements. In this case, while the outcome of the Australia vs Afghanistan game on Friday could confirm Group B’s semi-finalists, the positions in the group will only be known after South Africa’s match against England on Saturday. Should South Africa qualify for the semi-finals, they will either play India in Dubai on Tuesday or New Zealand in Lahore on Wednesday.

Asked which he would prefer, van der Dussen personally indicated the latter but said the team would be up for either task. “If it’s a personal thing, I would say playing in Lahore because it’s just good to bat there. The Dubai pitch is not as high-scoring as the Lahore but no, I don’t think it really matters,” he said. “Probably logistically it will be easier to play in Lahore. You don’t have to go through an international flight and go to Dubai and literally go to another country to play. Lahore is not too far from where we are at the moment, so conditions are fairly similar. It’s literally one of those things, we don’t know what’s going to happen until Saturday evening.”

Though South Africa have been in Pakistan for almost three weeks, playing in a mini tri-series before the Champions Trophy, and have selected their squad accordingly, van der Dussen believes they have the resources for any venue. “As a team, team-wise, conditions-wise, we’ve got everything in the locker to adapt to what’s going to be in front of us. I’m not too worried as a team. There’s no location that will suit us better or worse.”

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Australia-SA match abandoned after relentless rain in Rawalpindi

admin — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 16:00:49 +0000

Match abandoned due to rain Australia vs South Africa

The much-anticipated Champions Trophy match between Australia and South Africa in Rawalpindi was washed out without even a toss, nevermind a ball being bowled, after persistent drizzle. The match was called off at 5.10pm local time, three hours and 10 minutes after the scheduled start of play at 2pm and two hours and 22 minutes before the cut off time for a 20-over game, 7.32pm, local time. This was due to be the teams’ first meeting at a Champions Trophy.

The result means if Australia and South Africa win their final group matches, against Afghanistan and England respectively, they will progress to the semi-finals. Tomorrow’s match between England and Afghanistan is a knockout, with the loser certain of exiting the competition. The winner will have to beat their next opposition to make it through to the semis. As a result, one of the matches between Australia and Afghanistan on Friday and South Africa and England on Saturday could be virtual quarter-finals. Both England and Afghanistan have to win both their matches to qualify for the final four.

With no XIs named for this encounter, South Africa kept their cards close to their chest on Heinrich Klaasen’s availability. He missed their opening match against Afghanistan with an elbow injury and now has three more days to recover before the game against England on Saturday.

This was due to be the first meeting between Australia and South Africa since the 2023 ODI World Cup semi-final, which Australia won and means that they continue to have the advantage over South Africa in ICC events. In nine matches, Australia have won four, South Africa three, there was a tie at the 1999 World Cup and now, their first washout. If the two sides are to meet again at this event, it will have to be in the final.

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Australia, South Africa in battle to top the group

admin — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 15:49:05 +0000

Big picture: Expect a hard-fought contest

Australia and South Africa brushed off poor pre-tournament results to record wins in their opening matches of the Champions Trophy and they meet each other with their batters in good form. Australia may be riding slightly higher after they completed the highest successful chase in tournament history – 352 – with 15 balls to spare. South Africa’s 315 for 6 against Afghanistan resulted in victory by 107 runs and put them higher on the points table thanks to a bigger net run rate.

All that, combined with expectations of a batter-friendly pitch in Rawalpindi, means the bowling attacks can expect a tough day out after already being challenged by absences in personnel. Australia are missing more than South Africa with Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc all out of the tournament; but with Anrich Nortje and Gerald Coetzee also ruled out, South Africa had to look elsewhere for express pace. Still, they’ve got five seamers and three spinners (if you include Aiden Markam) to choose from. Australia’s squad make-up is similar and with Marnus Labuschagne turning his arm over, they have additional options, so the real point of difference may lie in selection and how the captains allocate overs to exert pressure on each other.

Victory will not guarantee either team progression to the semi-finals but will leave the winner primed to top the group so expect a contest that lives up to its billing, especially if the last one was anything to go by. In 2023, at the ODI World Cup semi-final, South Africa were restricted to an under-par total of 212 but had Australia seven down in the 48th when the winning runs were scored. That game had the tension of a low-scoring thriller, this one is likely to have the fireworks of a run fest. Whatever happens, given these two sides routinely bring out the most competitive streaks in each other, this will be one of the tournament’s showpiece matches in front of what is expected to be a sell-out crowd.

Form guide

Australia: WLLLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
South Africa: WLLLL

In the spotlight: Ellis and van der Dussen

In a match where 707 runs were scored in 97.3 overs, conceding less than six runs an over was simply outstanding. That’s what Nathan Ellis did for Australia against England, where his 10 overs cost just 51 runs in a display of immense control and maturity in just his tenth ODI. Ellis is unusual in that at 5 foot 9 he isn’t as tall as we’d expect a fast bowler to be and relies on consistency and variety rather than pace to make an impact. While he may not be an outright attacking bowler, in a tournament where restricting batting sides in the middle overs has already proven to be important, how he performs in that phase could be decisive in Australia’s campaign.

With a top order in good form and a powerful middle order, Rassie van der Dussen has the third-best ODI batting average of all time for South Africa and is among their most consistent performers despite a recent dip. His 46-ball 52 against Afghanistan was his first half-century in 11 innings, and van der Dussen may have started to feel the pressure of competition for his place. South Africa are choosing between Ryan Rickelton, Tony de Zorzi and van der Dussen for two of three top-order spots and also have Tristan Stubbs on the bench, so van der Dussen will want to do all he can to keep proving his worth.

Team news: Klassen to have fitness test

Australia don’t have reason to change things and Alex Carey suggested the XI would remain as is. They may consider a switch in their attack, and swap out one of their two left-arm quicks, Spencer Johnson or Ben Dwarshuis, for Sean Abbott.

Australia: (possible) 1 Matthew Short, 2 Travis Head, 3 Steve Smith (capt), 4 Marnus Labuschagne, 5 Josh Inglis (wk), 6 Alex Carey, 7 Glenn Maxwell, 8 Ben Dwarshuis, 9 Nathan Ellis, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Spencer Johnson

Heinrich Klaasen missed South Africa’s opener against Afghanistan because of an elbow niggle and will have a fitness test to assess his availability for the match. If Klaasen is fit, South Africa are likely to change their opening combination to make room for him in the middle order, which would mean leaving Tony de Zorzi out after Ryan Rickelton made himself undroppable with his century against Afghanistan. South Africa seem content to play one specialist spinner and have the option of four quicks, which could leave Tabraiz Shamsi on the bench again.

South Africa (possible): 1 Temba Bavuma (capt), 2 Ryan Rickelton, 3 Rassie van der Dussen, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 6 David Miller, 7 Wiaan Mulder, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Keshav Maharaj, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Lungi Ngidi

Pitch and conditions

Before the start of this tournament, Rawalpindi had not hosted ODIs since April 2023, when Pakistan and New Zealand made scores of 288, 291, 336 and 337 in two matches. South Africa’s captain Temba Bavuma and Carey said they expect another high-scoring encounter on what looks like a flat surface. Bavuma also revealed that South Africa noted significant dew during a training session at the venue over the weekend and both he and Carey expected chasing to be easier than defending a target. The weather will be cooler than in Karachi or Lahore with a high of just 17 degrees, and there is some drizzle forecast in the afternoon which could impact the match.

Stats and trivia

Australia’s chase of 352 against England was their second-highest successful chase in ODIs.
In that game, Josh Inglis became the fourth Australian men’s cricketer to complete a hundred in all formats, after Aaron Finch, Glenn Maxwell and David Warner.
Since 2016, South Africa have batted first 12 times against Australia in ODIs and lost only two of those matches. The most recent of these defeats was the semi-final of the 2023 ODI World Cup.
Travis Head has scored 62 runs off 55 balls off Kagiso Rabada in ODIs and been dismissed by him three times. Against Lungi Ngidi, however, he’s scored only 15 off 25 balls for two dismissals.
Klaasen has scored 121 runs off 89 balls from Adam Zampa in ODIs and been dismissed twice by him.

Quotes

“We probably don’t want to chase 350 too many more times but our bowlers will learn a lot from that hit out.”
Australia batter Alex Carey reflects on the game against England

“We’re quite bullish about our chances. Even though in the [preceding] tri-series, we didn’t have all our guys, it still was an opportunity for us to get whatever intel that we can on the conditions and share that information with all the other guys who came in. Confidence is good. We’re quite optimistic about our chances and how far we can go in this competition.”
South Africa captain Temba Bavuma

Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s correspondent for South Africa and women’s cricket

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Rickelton’s maiden ODI hundred, middle order set up SA’s big win over Afghanistan

admin — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 22:38:50 +0000

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

Ryan Rickelton is showing the value of runs under the belt. He came into the Champions Trophy on the back of a solid SA20, where he was the fourth-highest scorer. Before that, he had smoked 259 in the New Year’s Test against Pakistan. On Friday, it was time for him to leave his mark on the 50-over format as he scored his maiden ODI century in his seventh game as South Africa began their Champions Trophy with a solid 107-run win over Afghanistan.

Batting first on a Karachi surface that had a nice layer of grass, South Africa rode on Rickelton’s 103 followed by steady fifties from Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram to rack up 315 for 6. That meant Afghanistan had to record their highest-ever successful chase if they had to win on Champions Trophy debut.

But they never really got close. Rahmat Shah was the only bright spot as he scored a sprightly 90 off 92 balls, and was the last batter to fall. But with a second-highest score of 18, Afghanistan were never really in it. Kagiso Rabada picked up three wickets, while Lungi Ngidi and Wiaan Mulder got two each as Afghanistan were bundled for 208 in 43.3 overs.

It was a largely flawless innings from Rickelton. 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 early on when he flopped it straight to mid-on.

Bavuma’s 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. He would have faced a lot of Rashid Khan in the SA20 nets as they were part of the victorious MI Cape Town side, and that experience showed.

Bavuma got to his second fifty 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. Afghanistan hardly helped themselves in the field, too. There were several misfields, and a run-out chance 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 soon 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.

There was no respite for Afghanistan though. Van der Dussen, coming into the tournament not in great nick, was fluent and 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 short fine leg. No. 3 Sediqullah Atal 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 pace bowlers 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 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.

In the end, Rahmat edged Rabada to Rickelton 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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Klaasen misses Afghanistan game as precaution over left elbow injury

admin — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:29:04 +0000

There was no Heinrich Klaasen or Tristan Stubbs in South Africa’s team sheet for the Champions Trophy game against Afghanistan in Karachi on Friday afternoon, and CSA confirmed that Klaasen had been ruled out “as a precautionary measure due to a left elbow soft tissue injury”. Stubbs might not have been a contender for the first-choice XI anyway.

South Africa, who won the toss and asked Afghanistan to field first, still had a formidable-looking batting line-up, with Ryan Rickelton and Tony de Zorzi up top, and Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram and David Miller in the middle, and the allrounders Wiaan Mulder and Marco Jansen at seven and eight.

But Klaasen is one of their big players, and the form player in ODIs. In the four ODIs he had played in the past few months, all against Pakistan – at home late last year and then the one in the tri-series preceding the Champions Trophy – his scores were 86 in 97 balls, 97 in 74 balls, 81 in 43 balls and, in the latest game, 87 in 56 balls.

Overall, he averages 44.12 from 54 ODI innings – in which he has scored 2074 runs – and strikes at 117.44. Crucially, keeping the venues of the Champions Trophy in mind, Klaasen has a strike rate of 125.31 against spinners in ODIs since the start of 2020, all while averaging 57 runs-per-dismissal against that kind of bowling.

Among 97 batters to have faced 500-plus balls of spin in this period, Klaasen’s strike rate is the highest and comfortably better than the next best – Rohit Sharma’s 111.59. In this game, against Afghanistan, South Africa will likely face at least 20 overs of spin, with Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad among the frontline bowlers, and Mohammad Nabi in the mix too.

South Africa’s next Champions Trophy game is against Australia on February 25 in Rawalpindi.

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Afghanistan begin with dreams to realise, South Africa with nightmares to squash

admin — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 06:20:29 +0000

Big Picture: The game some didn’t want SA to play

Group B of the Champions Trophy gets underway with a fixture between the dream side of the last two tournaments, Afghanistan, and the one which has nightmares about the number of times it has not got its hands on the trophy, South Africa.

Afghanistan will make their Champions Trophy bow on the back of strong performances at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they narrowly missed out on a semi-final spot, and an impressive run in the format since then. They have won four out of five bilateral series, (albeit two of those against Ireland and Zimbabwe, who are not at this tournament) and reached the T20 World Cup semi-final in-between. A short, sharp event like this one presents them with a stunning opportunity to swoop in and claim a major tournament title. Imagine if they do it before South Africa?

To be fair to South Africa they have in fact won the Champions Trophy before – in its inaugural edition in 1998, when it was called the ICC Knockout and played in as cut-throat a structure as it gets. Like it says it on the tin: lose a game, and you’re out. Then, South Africa managed to win all three. This time, to win the cup, teams will have to play five matches and they can even afford a slip up (but probably only one). South Africa’s issue is that recently they have stumbled much more.

They’ve lost three of their four bilateral ODI series since the last World Cup including their last six ODIs but that record isn’t weighing on them. They’ve used ODIs as a development exercise, and have capped 10 new players since the 2023 ODI World Cup. For the first time since that, they have their best available players together and as they showed at last year’s T20 World Cup, where they reached the final, when they’re at full-strength, they are stronger than many expect.

Headlining both outfits are explosive batting line-ups, with Afghanistan’s power at the top in an opening pair of Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz and South Africa’s in the middle order. That makes the match-ups between South Africa’s seamers and the Afghan top order and Afghanistan’s spinners and the South African middle order the ones to watch for.

It would be amiss to preview this fixture without noting that if was up to South Africa’s sports minister Gayton McKenzie, this match would not be happening at all. He compared the Taliban regime’s treatment of women to Apartheid and said it would be “hypocritical and immoral” to look the other way. But Cricket South Africa disagrees and has both sough out bilateral fixtures against Afghanistan – their September 2024 series was not on the FTP – and explained why it doesn’t think shunning Afghanistan will lead to meaningful change.

This is a narrative that will only get stronger through the tournament as Afghanistan’s next two opponents. England and Australia, also face internal pressure to not play against them but confirmed the fixtures will go ahead. The Afghanistan team is caught in the crossfire and captain Hashmatullah Shahidi brought out the old “we can only control… the controllable things”, but their presence keeps the conversation going.

South Africa: LLLLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Afghanistan: WWWLW

In the spotlight: South Africa’s experience and Afghanistan’s spinners

South Africa’s white-ball coach Rob Walter’s big-players-will-step-up-for-big-occasions mantra will be put to the test at this tournament with David Miller and Kagiso Rabada in full focus. They are only two members of the squad with more than 100 ODI caps to their names and are seen as the leaders of the line-up and attack respectively. While Miller has the advantage of a strong top-order to lay the foundations the innings, Rabada has the task of being the spearhead of a pack that can expect conditions to be difficult for them. They’ll both be expected to have cool heads and provide wise counsel as South Africa attempt to take home silverware.

Afghanistan have the advantage of recent experience against South Africa thanks to the number of players who were part of the SA20, and Noor Ahmed and Rashid Khan enjoyed the most success. They were the highest wicket-takers for their respective franchises (Noor for Durban Super Giants and Rashid joint-highest with Rabada for MI Cape Town). While South Africa’s overall approach to spin is much-improved in recent years, they still have a habit of getting themselves tangled up and Afghanistan will hope to exploit that through two of their best.

South Africa could be forced to bench both Ryan Rickelton and Tristan Stubbs in what is an already strong batting line-up. Aiden Markram’s more-than-part-time offspin means they may consider only one specialist spinner in Keshav Maharaj, which will create room for both seam bowling allrounders – Wiaan Mulder and Marco Jansen – and two other frontline quicks.

South Africa (possible): 1 Temba Bavuma (capt) 2 Tony de Zorzi, 3 Rassie van der Dussen, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 6 David Miller, 7 Wiaan Mulder, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Corbin Bosch, 10 Keshav Maharaj 11 Kagiso Rabada

Ibrahim Zadran will return to the Afghan XI after last playing for them in March. He has been out with an ankle injury but has had some time at the crease in the ILT20. With AM Ghazanfar out with a back problem, they will have to choose between left-arm wristspinner Noor Ahmed, who had success at the SA20, and left-arm fingerspinner Nangeyalia Kharote. That would give them a variety of spin options, alongside Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi in the team and four seam bowlers to boot.

Afghanistan: (possible) 1 Ibrahim Zadran, 2 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 3 Rahmat Shah, 4 Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), 5 Azmatullah Omarzai, 6 Gulbadin Naib, 7 Mohammad Nabi, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Noor Ahmad/Nangeyalia Kharote, 10 Naveed Zadran, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi

Karachi has been providing plenty of runs, with New Zealand scoring 320 in the tournament opener on Wednesday and Pakistan completing their highest successful ODI chase at the venue – 353 – against South Africa in the mini tri-series last week. Word is that more of the same is expected. South Africa’s attack, especially their spinners, have spoken about honing their defensive strategies, which suggests they’re preparing for a high-scoring encounter in which the batters will have the opportunity to make big statements. They won’t be the only ones doing that. Afghanistan expect the match to be like a home game for them, with a significant expat population in Karachi.

“Just recently we beat them in Sharjah 2-1, so we have that confidence with us and we are not under pressure. Right now we are focusing on what we can do in this tournament. I believe that our team is more ready for this tournament and we are focusing on our own team. There is no pressure on us.”
Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi responds to questions on his side being underdogs against a side they have only met five times and beaten twice

“Like all the tournaments, we will come in with the prospect of seeing ourselves in the final but eventually obviously getting over the line. The nice thing is that we have guys with that experience and there’s no there’s no real baggage that exists amongst the guys. There’s no negativity from the fact that we haven’t been able to be successful in other ICC events. There’s a lot more of a positivity and confidence in terms of our ability or how far we can go within the tournament.”
Temba Bavuma says South Africa do not carry scars from previous tournaments into this one

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