Klaasen and Jansen star as Proteas rout England

While Heinrich Klaasen watched on from the air-conditioned comfort of the changeroom, his teammates completed a rout of England that owed everything to his courageous innings of 109 earlier on Saturday.

The South Africans completed a 229-run win against the defending champions, inflicting the biggest defeat the English had suffered in an ODI. 

It was a performance that married courage, patience and skill and will help to restore confidence after the debacle against the Dutch in Dharamsala last Tuesday. 

South Africa racked up 399/7 with a bat, a total which had looked beyond them when they lost both David Miller and Aiden Markram, who was captaining the side after Temba Bavuma withdrew with illness, within 10 balls of each other. 

Those two wickets came at a critical juncture. Reeza Hendricks, who replaced Bavuma at the top of the order and Rassie van der Dussen, had shared a 121-run partnership for the second wicket, creating the perfect foundation for the rest of the innings. 

Markram’s and Miller’s wickets left the Proteas total on 243/5 in the 37th over, and exposed a lengthy lower order to a critical part of the innings. 

A few things worked in South Africa’s favour: Klaasen was still at the crease, Marco Jansen’s love for batting and the effect the heat was having on the English. Having noticed that they were also suffering in the oppressive conditions, with the temperatures in Mumbai well over 30 °C, and the humidity suffocating, Klaasen began a stunning assault in the 42nd over, that flattened Jos Buttler’s men. 

Some of their bowlers and fielders were struggling with cramp, and leg-spinner Adil Rashid who produced an excellent spell, was finding breathing difficult. 

Not that it was any easier for Klaasen. “The conditions were brutal. It was proper heat that sapped all your energy,” he said afterwards.

He and Jansen shared a partnership of 151 for the sixth wicket off only 77 balls, dominating the English bowlers with some powerful striking. Klaasen often on his haunches and needing to take in fluids, regularly struck 12 fours and four sixes.

Jansen finished on 75 not out, off just 42 balls, smashing three fours and half a dozen sixes.

The English struggled to come to terms with a boisterous new ball burst from Jansen, who took two wickets and Lungi Ngidi, who picked up Jonny Bairstow. By the 10th over, they’d lost four wickets, including that of Ben Stokes, their magnificent match-winner, who was playing his first match in a month, after a hip injury. Stokes fell to an excellent caught-and-bowled effort from Kagiso Rabada and by the time Gerald Coetzee dismissed both Buttler and Harry Brook in the same over, the contest was effectively over. 

There was some lusty hitting at the end from Mark Wood and Gus Atkinson, but it was only a bit of fun after a very difficult day for England, whose World Cup chances now hang by a thread. 

Jansen and Ngidi each took two wickets, while Coetzee mixed in a series of loose deliveries, with some wicket-taking ones to finish with 3/35 in four overs.

The Proteas’ campaign is back on track. “It was a great way to bounce back after the loss against the Netherlands,” said Markram.