The Proteas went 1-0 up in the One Day International Series against England, when they convincingly beat the tourists by seven wickets at Newlands on Tuesday night.
Having been sent into bat after Quinton De Kock won the toss, England were restricted to 258 for eight in their 50 overs, Joe Denly top-scoring with 87.
The pick of the new-look South African attack was Tabraiz Shamsi, who took three for 38 in his 10 overs.
In the South African chase, De Kock and Temba Bavuma took control of the game with a wonderful partnership of 173.
De Kock finished on 107, his 15th ODI century, while Bavuma scored 98, to set up the victory. Bavuma says it was a good win for the team.
Bavuma says it was a good all-round performance, and while he and De Kock were the match-winners, he felt the bowlers also did their job well.
Having fallen just two runs short of his second ODI century Bavuma was obviously disappointed but was happy to just be part of the ODI team.
Chris Woakes who was the pick of England’s bowlers and also scored 40 says he did not think the target score was that bad, but the partnership between De Kock and Bavuma took the game away from them.
Woakes says that De Kock, who passed 5000 runs in ODI’s during the game, is world-class and England needs to find a way to get him out early.
Woakes says they hope to bounce back in the second ODI in Durban on Friday, and they need to put this result behind them. – Report by Rob Delport
