Ryan Rickelton became the second South African man, after Gary Kirsten, to score a century on debut in an ICC tournament as South Africa began its Champions Trophy campaign with a convincing 107-run victory against Afghanistan.
At the National Stadium on Friday, the young Rickelton (103, 106b, 7×4, 1×6) justified his team’s decision to bat first with a mature innings. He kept the scoreboard ticking with singles and boundaries, to guide South Africa to 315 for 6 – a target that was far from Afghanistan’s reach, despite Rahmat Shah’s 92-ball-90.
Even as the surface favoured the batters, South Africa lost Tony de Zorzi early after Afghanistan introduced spinner Mohammed Nabi in the powerplay.
However, with Rickelton and captain Temba Bavuma (58, 76b, 5×4) steadying things, and adding 129 runs for the second wicket, South Africa managed to negate Afghanistan’s spin ploy.
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Rickelton found boundaries regularly, even though Bavuma took his time to settle in before finding the momentum and ensuring that he brought up a fighting fifty. As both the batters looked at ease, South Africa got past 150 inside 28 overs, before Nabi struck again to remove the South African skipper.
Nevertheless, Rickelton stood firm to bring up his maiden ODI century and looked set to extend the score before he was run out by Rashid Khan. Aiden Markram and Rassie van der Dussen chipped in with fifties and Wiaan Mulder came up with a quick cameo of 12-ball-6 to help South Africa breach the 300-run mark without breaking a sweat.
Pursuing a massive total, Afghanistan batters failed to show resilience against South Africa’s fast bowling line-up, led by Kagiso Rabada and Ngidi Lungi, and lost wickets at regular intervals.
Despite a large number of Afghan fans cheering for the team, it lost four wickets for 50 runs before Rahmat Shah put up a lone fight. With no support from the other end, barring a 13-ball-18 cameo by Rashid, Rahmat’s efforts went in vain as Afghanistan’s Champions Trophy debut turned out to be a forgettable one.