Temba Bavuma slams his fifth ODI century: Key stats
South Africa captain Temba Bavuma has slammed his fifth century in ODI cricket. The senior opener reached the three-figure mark in the 1st ODI against Australia at the Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein. Bavuma led the Proteas from the front after they suffered a batting collapse. He was South Africa's lone warrior and the only one to score over 50 runs. Here are the key stats.
A defiant knock from Bavuma
South Africa had a sluggish start after Australia them in to bat. The SA skipper had a slow start, but he firmly held his end as the others kept on departing. At one stage, SA were 100/5, and they were tottering on 182/8 eventually. Bavuma shared 57 runs with Marco Jansen. The former finally accelerated and reached his century off 136 balls.
Bavuma gets past 1,200 ODI runs
As mentioned, this was Bavuma's fifth century in ODI cricket. He has converted eight of his fifty-plus scores five times. The brilliant knock raced Bavuma past 1,200 runs (1,264) in the format. This was his 27th appearance in the 50-over format. Bavuma now averages an incredible 57.45, the fourth-best among players from Full-Member nations in ODI cricket.
Bavuma was the lone warrior
A look at South Africa's fall of wickets: 19-1, 33-2, 70-3, 97-4, 100-5, 157-6, 168-7, 182-8, 185-9, and 222-10. Bavuma finished with an unbeaten 114 off 142 balls, a knock laced with 14 fours and a solitary six. Notably, the other 10 batters racked up just 89 runs combined off 153 balls (11 fours and 1 six).
13th player to carry the bat in ODIs
As per Kausthub Gudipati, Bavuma has become only the 13th player to carry the bat in ODI cricket. The first 10 players in this regard are all non-captains, while the next three are captains (Upul Tharanga, Dimuth Karunaratne, and Bavuma).
