Picture : ICC / X
Defending Champions England’s World Cup title defense is in absolute tatters. Needing a win after two losses , England nightmare was further extended as determined South Africa beat them in all department of the game by a massive 229 runs. England’s biggest ever World Cup loss.
After hitting a massive total of 399/ 7. The Proteas pace attack ripped through the demoralised English batting line-up for mere 170 . If it was not for a ninth-wicket 70-run stand between Mark Wood (43 not out) and Gus Atkinson (35), England’s loss will feature among one of the worst in history of ODI cricket. For what it is worth, Reece Topley unavailable to bat.
Buttler’s call to bowl first in most humid conditions, would also rankle for times to come since England’s recent record of chasing — only three wins in 11 matches since January 2022 — did not back them up enough.
Jonny Bairstow (10) was bounced out by Lungi Ngidi (2/26), Joe Root (2) meekly played one to leg slip off Marco Jansen (2/35), who also had Dawid Malan (6) caught behind.
Kagiso Rabada (1/35) took a sharp return catch to end Stokes’ stay.
The young Gerald Coetzee (3/35) then got into the act to account for Harry Brook (17), Buttler (15) and Adil Rashid (10) to pile further misery on England.
Earlier, Heinrich Klaasen produced a hundred of the highest quality in extremely humid conditions to fire South Africa to their highest total in a World Cup contest against them.
Klaasen resurrected South Africa with his third century of the year and overall fourth, hammering 109 off just 67 balls while Jansen smashed a terrific 75 not out (42 balls, 3x4s, 6x6s).
South Africa stumbled in the middle overs after Reeza Hendricks (85 off 75 balls, 9x4s, 3x6s) and Rassie van der Dussen (60 off 61 balls, 8x4s) ensured a strong platform, leaving Klaasen with the challenge to do the heavy-lifting in the final 15 overs, even though he was well supported by Jansen.
Klaasen and Jansen added 151 runs for the sixth wicket off just 77 balls, which is now a record for South Africa against England in ODIs as well as in World Cup history.
England captain Jos Buttler later conceded the loss to South Africa by 229 runs — their biggest in history of ODI cricket — leaves the reigning champions in a desperate race to qualify for the semifinals of the ongoing World Cup. “A really tough defeat to take. Obviously, we were disappointed in Delhi (loss to the Afghanistan) and had a good few days and worked really hard and did a lot of things hoping to put it right today, but it did not work out,” Buttler told the media after England’s biggest ODI loss ever.
Buttler agreed that it will be very difficult from this point to qualify for the semi-finals.
Match: World Cup 2023, 20th Match
Venue: Mumbai | Date: October 21, 2023
