At the Cricket World Cup, Quinton de Kock scored his second century in a row to help South Africa defeat Australia by 134 runs on Thursday.
In South Africa's total of 311-7, the 30-year-old de Kock—who will retire following the World Cup—followed up his hundred against Sri Lanka with a 109 from 106 balls on an unproven pitch.
Australia was careless in the field, dropping five catches before being bowled out for 177, their second below-200 total of the tournament. Australia won the toss and chose to bowl on a relaid surface.
In a 10-over stretch, fast bowler Kagiso Rabada claimed 3-33 while Keshav Maharaj clamped down on the hitters with 2-30.
Australia, who was considered one of the favourites to make it to the semifinals, had a dismal day on the field overall, with the exception of Glenn Maxwell (2-34) who showed some flair with his offspin bowling.
With two victories from two games and a strong net run-rate of 2.35, South Africa took the lead. Australia has a lot of work ahead of it after its net run-rate fell to minus-1.84, barely ahead of Afghanistan in last position. Australia is currently without a point.
"Happy to be defeated by the toss, as everything went our way," South Africa captain Temba Bavuma remarked. Saying there were areas for improvement would be incredibly greedy of me. An almost flawless performance both with the bat and the ball.
Australia's ODI performance took a serious hit heading into the World Cup. In just than a month, the team has dropped seven of its last eight One-Day Internationals, including four against South Africa.
With a 108-run opening partnership with Bavuma in his final big international tournament, left-hander de Kock maintained his outstanding hitting form.
The captain of South Africa was dropped twice before he squared up to David Warner with a huge shot against Maxwell.
At the location where he plays for the Lucknow Super Giants of the Indian Premier League, de Kock produced his 19th ODI century with eight fours and five sixes, little bothered by the pace or legspin of Adam Zampa of Australia.
De Kock and Rassie van der Dussen (26) shared another half-century stand before Maxwell dismissed him in the 35th over as the pair attempted a reverse sweep.
De Kock remarked, "(I've) seen from the Lucknow team that it gets harder at night and it did prove that." "After just two games, we are quite happy with our performance, but anything can happen at any time. We'll just take it game by game and not become overly excited.
In South Africa's 102-run victory over Sri Lanka, Aiden Markram—who hit the quickest century of the World Cup off 49 balls—seized an early advantage when Pat Cummins failed to hold on to a return reflex catch. In his 56 off 44 balls, he went on to knock seven fours and a six.
In the opening game, Australia also lost a chance when Mitchell Marsh dismissed Virat Kohli at 12, allowing the legendary Indian batsman to go on and score 85.
The Proteas crossed the 300-run threshold thanks to runs from David Miller (17) and Marco Jansen (26), but Markram went out of the game in the final powerplay after being caught at backward point.
Nevertheless, both batsmen were fortunate to be dropped in Cummins' penultimate over before Mitchel Starc (2-53) bowled a double-wicket maiden final over, taking Jansen and Miller out in the game.
The opening duo of Warner (13) and Marsh (7) were cramped by South Africa's pacers during the batting powerplay and eventually went down in consecutive overs, making meek catches out of frustration.
After South Africa successfully requested a television referral, Rabada pinned Steven Smith (19) stuck leg before wicket. In his subsequent over, the bowler clean bowled Josh Inglis.
After first-choice wicketkeeper Alex Carey was benched early in the competition, Australia made two changes: Inglis was one of them, while Marcus Stoinis played in his maiden match after missing out on the match against India due to a hamstring injury.
When Maharaj and Rabada made more inroads, Australia fell farther behind at 70-6. This was followed by a 69-run stand between top-scorer Marnus Labuschagne (46), and Starc (27).
However, in his opening match of the competition, Tabraiz Shamsi sealed Australia's dismal day with a score of 2-38.
"We were way off the mark, but it looked like hard work out there at night," Cummins remarked. In order to be competitive in this event, you must adjust to every situation. Everyone is in pain tonight, so not much has to be said.
