ICC World Cup 2023: Key takeaways from South Africa's campaign
South Africa's sensational run in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup ended with a three-wicket defeat against Australia in the semi-final. It was a low-scoring thriller as the Proteas yet again failed to nail a knock-out match. However, they certainly set this WC on fire with their fiery performances. Their batters were brilliant in particular. Here we discuss the key takeaways from their campaign.
South Africa's rollicking run in the group stage
The Proteas team lost just two of their seven league games. Interestingly, one of their defeats came against the Netherlands. Moreover, they defeated the likes of Australia, England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh by over 100 runs. Hence, their net run rate (+1.261) was only second to hosts India (+2.570) despite a 243-run defeat against the Men in Blue.
Beast while batting first
South Africa batted first six times in the competition and returned with 355-plus scores on four occasions. This includes the highest-ever WC total, 428/5 against Sri Lanka. SA's average run rate of 6.97 while batting first is also the third-highest for any team in an ODI World Cup edition. However, they could only manage 212 white batting first against Australia in the semi-final.
Contrasting campaign of two openers
Opener Quinton de Kock made the most of his last ODI WC as he scored 594 runs with the help of four tons. He became the first SA batter to score 500-plus runs in a WC edition. However, his opening partner and skipper Temba Bavuma endured a horrendous run and managed just 145 runs at 18.12. He breached the 30-run mark just once.
Other batters stepped up as well
The likes of Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, and David Miller also stepped up and accumulated 350-plus runs apiece. While all these batters averaged over 40, Markram, Klaasen, Klaasen, and de Kock had strike rates in excess of 100. These numbers highlight how ruthless the Proteas batters were in this tournament.
The all-round show of Marco Jansen
Youngster Marco Jansen aced the all-rounder's role as he played several important cameos besides being one of SA's premium strike bowlers. He accumulated 157 runs at a strike rate of 110.56. With his left-arm pace, he returned with 17 scalps across nine games at 26.47. His tally of 12 powerplay wickets is the most for any bowler in this tournament.
Gerald Coetzee starred with the ball
Another youngter Gerald Coetzee was SA's stand-out bowler as he returned with 20 scalps at 19.80. These are the most scalps by a SA bowler in a WC edition. The new top-ranked ODI bowler, Keshav Maharaj snapped 15 wickets and that too at an economy of 4.15. Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi took 13 and 10 wickets respectively. The former conceded runs at 4.99.
