South Africa secured a comfortable 146-run victory over the Netherlands in the third and final ODI at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Sunday, April 2. With this win, South Africa climbed to eighth place in the Super League table, improving their net run rate and taking a significant step towards direct qualification for the ODI World Cup, scheduled in India later this year.
South Africa completed a 2-0 series win over the Netherlands, which was halted due to Covid-19, with the first game being washed out in November 2021.
South African captain Temba Bavuma expressed his satisfaction with his team’s performance, stating that they did exactly what they wanted to do. He also acknowledged that Ireland is the only team that could potentially squeeze South Africa out of automatic qualification for the World Cup.
“We did exactly what we wanted to do,” said Bavuma at the post-match presentation.
Aiden Markram’s impressive 175 off 126 balls, including 17 fours and seven sixes, and his 199-run partnership with David Miller (91) set up the tone of South Africa’s mammoth total
Chasing 371 for victory, the Netherlands made a strong start by adding 149 runs for the loss of two wickets in 25 overs. However, their batting order collapsed after that, and they lost their last five wickets for just seven runs. The Dutch were eventually bowled out for 224 in 39.1 overs.
South Africa pacer Sisanda Magala picked up his first five-wicket haul in international cricket, with four of his victims being clean bowled.
South Africa 370-8 (Aiden Markram 175, David Miller 91, Fred Klaasen 2/43) beat Netherlands 224 (Musa Ahmed 61, Sisanda Magala 5/43) by 146 runs.
