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South Africa cruise to 9-wicket win over B'desh
South Africa ended a run of 10 straight ODI defeats with a win in their Pool B opener on Sunday. Score
South Africa ended a run of 10 straight One-Day International defeats with a nine-wicket win against Bangladesh in their ICC Champions Trophy Pool B opener at Edgbaston on Sunday.
Victory was all but assured for the Proteas after they bowled out the Asian minnows for 93 in under 32 overs following the decision of Bangladesh's 20-year-old stand-in captain Rajin Saleh, replacing the injured Habibul Bashar, to bat first after winning the toss.
Charl Langeveldt, Mkhaya Ntini and Nicky Boje all took three wickets apiece in an innings where only Nafis Iqbal (40) and Khaled Mashud (24) made it to double figures.
Extras was third top-scorer with 14 with four batsmen dismissed for nought.
In a reply under grey skies, South Africa seemed more concerned with beating the forecast rain than the Bangladeshi attack.
After the early loss of opener Herschelle Gibbs, bowled by Tapash Baisya for four, South Africa pressed on to victory inside 18 overs.
South Africa captain Graeme Smith was 42 not out and Jacques Kallis unbeaten on 40.
The match lasted four hours playing time and was completed in 49.2 overs.
Thanks to Nafis and Khaled's stand of 43, Bangladesh exceeded their lowest one-day total of 76 which they had made twice, against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2002 and India in Dhaka last year.
And their lowest score against South Africa — their previous worst was 108 in Bloemfontein at last year's World Cup — was also one more than their lowest score outside Asia of 92 against Zimbabwe in Nairobi in 1997.
Langeveldt, 29, took three for one in seven balls as Bangladesh declined to 15 for three inside four overs.
He finished with three for 17 while fast bowler Ntini took three for 19 and left-arm spinner Boje three for 23.
Man-of-the-Match Langeveldt, a replacement for the injured Andre Nel, began the rout in the second over when Mohammed Ashraful (4) edged to second slip Jacques Kallis.
The former prison warder, who has been playing club cricket in England this season for north-west side Morecambe, then took two wickets in three balls in the fourth over.
First he had Javed Omar (4) plumb lbw and then Rajin (nought) edged to Martin van Jaarsveld in the slips.
Nafis, dropped on one, turned experienced all-rounder Lance Klusener off his legs for four through mid-wicket.
And he promptly drove Boje's first ball, in the 20th over, for four.
But Boje had his revenge when, with the last ball of his first over, he had Nafis slicing a drive to Gibbs, running back from cover to end a 59-ball innings featuring six fours.
Then 63 for five soon became 72 for eight with Boje bowling Manjural Islam (1) and then taking two sharp gully catches off Ntini to get rid of Mushfiqur Rahman and Mohammed Rafique for nought apiece.
Bangladesh face West Indies in their final Pool match at The Rose Bowl on Wednesday with South Africa taking on Brian Lara's men at The Oval on Saturday.
