Proteas win third ODI thanks to Klaasen’s spectacular fireworks

Heinrich Klaasen the Test batter and Heinrich Klaasen the ODI batter, are two very different people.

The former, based on the evidence of the two Tests against the West Indies recently, isn’t sure about how to pace his innings; the latter, plays with clarity and an arrogance that is bewildering.

It’s not as if he had a great foundation to build on in Potchefstroom on Tuesday. South Africa were 87/4 in the 13th over after Tony de Zorzi got in a tangle against Akeal Hosein and was trapped lbw.

The scoring rate — 7.25 — was all right, but the loss of four wickets, so early in the run chase was a problem because for all their ability with the bat, Marco Jansen and Wayne Parnell still haven’t proved reliable.

It really was all on Klaasen and David Miller, who joined Klaasen at the fall of De Zorzi’s wicket. The standard operating procedure for such things is to “bat time” or “take the game deep”. Procedure be damned, Klaasen reckoned.

By the time Miller arrived he’d already hit three fours, so he simply continued in that fashion; if the ball was pitched up, it was driven, if it was short it was pulled. Sometimes it wasn’t even short, but so precise was Klaasen with his movement at the crease that he managed to upset the West Indies bowlers’ length by shifting his weight back quickly and still found plenty of open space on the leg-side.

The Proteas’ victory, which hadn’t seemed likely when Miller joined Klaassen, was eventually achieved with ease, as they reached the target with 123 balls to spare, with Klaasen hitting a six, followed by consecutive fours off Yannic Cariah.

The acceleration was incredible — between the 15th and 25th overs the Proteas scored 105 runs for the loss of Miller’s wicket. If this was a look at the new, positive brand, well then, there’s a lot to like.

Klaasen reached his century off just 54 balls, the fourth-fastest ODI century by a South African batter. He finished on 119 not out off only 61 balls, smashing 15 fours and five sixes.

Meanwhile, after sharing a partnership of 55 with Miller, who scored only 17, there was a crucial sixth-wicket stand with the aforementioned Jansen, in which the 22-year-old provided evidence of the kind of performance the Proteas want him to produce regularly with the bat.

Jansen was out there hitting reverse sweeps off the spinners, driving over the leg side and pulling against the seamers to make 43 off only 33 balls, and shared a 103-run partnership with Klaasen in just 10 overs.

As for the rest of the batters, there’ll still be question marks for new head coach Rob Walter. Quite how much he learnt about the youngsters chosen for this series remains to be seen, though Walter will know that just two matches for De Zorzi and Ryan Rickelton is not enough to judge them properly.

With the ball, the Proteas were superb, particularly Aiden Markram, who stood in as captain for Temba Bavuma, who was diagnosed with a hamstring injury. Markram brought himself on in the 26th over, with the West Indies having reached 150/3 and seemingly being on track for a total in excess of 300.

However, they struggled to score against Markram’s part-time off-spin and the pressure he created saw Bjorn Fortuin pick up the wickets of Shai Hope and Rovman Powell. The West Indies lost wickets regularly from then on, with Markram finishing with 1/30 in 10 overs, bowling 34 dot balls in the process.

West Indies’ top-scorer was opener Brandon King, who made a run-a-ball 72, but there was little substance from the rest of the batters.

Ultimately Klaasen decided the outcome with one of the finest counterattacking innings by a Proteas batter. It left the outcome of the series at 1-1, with South African eyes now turning towards the two matches with the Netherlands, where qualification for the 2023 World Cup will be at stake.

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