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South Africa vs Ireland: Temba Bavuma’s ton on ODI debut guides South Africa to 354/5

Bavuma scored a hundred on his debut and thus became the second South African in the history of ODIs to do so.

Bavuma is only the second South African after Colin Ingram to score a hundred on ODI debut. Image courtesy: Twitter.
Bavuma is only the second South African after Colin Ingram to score a hundred on ODI debut. Image courtesy: Twitter.

Temba Bavuma would not have thought of playing One-Day International (ODI) cricket for South Africa anytime soon, let alone against Ireland on Sunday. But he did not only play the one-off ODI against Ireland at Benoni, but also made it count by hitting a fine century. The pint-sized batsman, who has been a Test regular for the Proteas of late, scored a hundred on his debut and thus became the second South African in the history of ODIs to do so. Before him, only Colin Ingram had achieved this feat. Bavuma also became the 12th cricketer overall to do so. India’s KL Rahul was the last to score a ton on debut a couple of months back. FULL UPDATES: SOUTH AFRICA VS IRELAND, ONE-OFF ODI:

In perfect batting conditions on a bright sunny day in Benoni, Ireland skipper William Porterfield won the toss and invited South Africa to bat. The hosts, who who were forced to field a new-look side, handed debuts to as many as three players —Bavuma, Dwaine Pretorius and Andile Phehlukwayo — besides giving others from their bench-strength a chance. They were forced to do so as the likes of regular skipper AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir and Kyle Abbott opted out for varied reasons.

The absence of Amla meant South Africa opened the innings with a new pair in Quinton de Kock and Bavuma. The duo, with contrasting batting style, started the innings with confidence. De Kock played the aggressor initially while Bavuma took some time to get going. Ireland, who were without the services of Boyd Rankin, erred in the beginning as neither Peter Chase nor Craig Young could exert any pressure on the openers. The floodgates opened in the fifth over bowled by Young, when de Kock pasted three boundaries and announced his intent.

Senior pro Tim Murtagh, who landed in the country less than 24 hours before the match started after winning the County Championship in England, was introduced in the ninth over. But even he could not control the flow of runs as he was hit for a couple of boundaries in his first over by Bavuma. PREVIEW: IRELAND’s RARE SHOT AT CRICKETING GLORY.

By the 15th over, South Africa were 97 without loss and both the openers were cruising towards their fifties. Both soon reached to their landmarks and kept scoring runs all around the park. De Kock, in particular, was playing more aggressively and was looking set for a big hundred when he paid the price for playing a Kevin O’Brien delivery across the line and losing his leg stump. He did his job though by scoring stroke-filled 82 off just 66 balls. His knock included 8 hits to the fence and 2 beyond them. The two put on 159 runs for the first wicket and laid a solid foundation for a huge score.

De Kock’s dismissal did not bother Bavuma, who kept playing in an unflustered manner and accumulated runs at a decent pace. He was joined in the middle by skipper Faf du Plessis, who looked a bit rusty. He took his time initially and allowed Bavuma to play freely, who by then was in a zone of his own. Bavuma brought in his maiden ODI ton in style by hitting a boundary to Kevin O’Brien in the 34th over.

He went strong even after his hundred but captain du Plessis was soon dismissed after the duo got its fifty runs stand. He was dismissed for 31-ball 21 by Young. Soon after, Bavuma too was dismissed by Young and South Africa were reduced to 3 for 227. He scored 123-ball 113 on his ODI debut, a knock which was filled with 13 fours and a six. During this phase of the play, Ireland bowlers pulled back things a bit and tightened the screws. It was looking like South Africa would score in excess of 400 at one stage, but now they were looking at a possibility of ending somewhere around 325.

Big-hitting David Miller too could not do much and was dismissed for a score of 16-ball 14 by Kevin O’Brien. At this stage, South Africa were 4 for 267 in the 44th over. JP Duminy, the expert finisher in such conditions, was joined by Farhaan Behardien in the middle and the two had this task of adding maximum runs in the final overs.

Both these batsmen took little time to get their eyes in and started hitting the bowlers all over the park. Behardien, in particular, was more severe as he smashed a 21-ball fifty, which was filled with 3 sixes and equal number of fours. Duminy on the other hand played the second fiddle and rotated strike around besides getting odd boundaries in between. The two added 87 runs in 40 balls and managed to get the score past 350. Behardien was dismissed on the last ball, scoring a quickfire 22-ball 50, while Duminy remained unbeaten on 52 off 43 as South Africa posted 5 for 354 from the stipulated 50 overs.

For Ireland, Murtagh and Dockrell were the pick of the bowlers. Though the two did not take any wickets, they kept the flow of runs under check by finishing their full quota of overs with an economy rate below six runs per over. Young and Kevin O’briend were among the wickets, as the former picked three while the latter took two wickets. However, both were quite costly as Young went for 81 from his 10 overs while Kevin O’Brien leaked 66 runs.

It will be interesting to see how Ireland pursue this chase. They will be without the services of two of their best batsmen Ed Joyce and Niall O’Brien. The chase begins in a while.

Brief Scores

South Africa 354/5 from 50 overs (Temba Bavuma 113, Quinton de Kock 82, JP Duminy 52*, Farhaan Behardien 50; Craig Young 3 for 81, Kevin O’Brien 2 for 66)

(A self-confessed cricket freak, Chinmay Jawalekar is a senior writer with CricLife and CricketCountry. When not writing or following cricket, he loves to read, eat and sleep. He can be followed here @CricfreakTweets)

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