Proteas prove superiority

Halfway through South Africa's cakewalk to what seemed like a challenging target of 279 on a clear and windy day in Kimberley's Diamond Oval the large Bangladesh contingent, who were shouting themselves hoarse during the first half of the first ODI, became subdued. The fours and sixes from Bangladesh's batsmen, especially the 11 boundaries and two sixes off centurion Mushfiqur Rahim's bat, had given them something to cheer, but when Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock opened a library of boundaries of their own, the green and red started disappearing from the stands, perhaps in the uncomfortable knowledge that, with four more international matches still to go in the tour, that even when Bangladesh play well they will just not be good enough to topple their hosts.

The result was a win for South Africa by a whopping 10 wickets with 43 balls to spare. De Kock reached an unbeaten 168, his 13th ODI ton, when he hammered Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza through square leg for midwicket for four to bring up the winning runs. Amla was unbeaten at the other end on a 110-ball 112, his 29th Test ton. It was only the second time in ODI history that a team has won by 10 wickets while chasing 250 or above, with the previous one being England's chase of 253 against Sri Lanka last year.

As it the result was not enough, Mashrafe informed after the match that Mustafizur Rahman – who twisted his ankle the day before the match and missed yesterday's match – will miss the rest of the tour, including the two T20Is at the end.

The only chance that Bangladesh created was when Taskin Ahmed dropped a caught-and-bowled chance off Amla when the batsman was on 94 and the team score was on 237 without loss. Otherwise Bangladesh's bowlers had no impact on the openers as they went about chasing down the target with minimum fuss. De Kock took the majority of the strike and reached his century at a run-a-ball and accelerated from then on, scoring his next 68 runs off just 48 balls to end with 21 boundaries and two maximums. Amla, serene as usual, reached his ton in 99 balls and finished on 110 off 112 balls with eight boundaries.

Earlier, Mushfiqur Rahim became the first Bangladesh batsman to score a century against South Africa, playing beautifully for an unbeaten 110 off 116 balls with 11 fours and two well-hit sixes. The team suffered a setback even before Mashrafe won the toss and chose to bat as star opener Tamim Iqbal was ruled out of the match as he has not fully recovered from a thigh muscle tear sustained earlier on tour. The team stuck to the captain's directive to play positive cricket, and despite missing their batting leader, Imrul Kayes and Liton Das gave the team a positive start with a 43-run opening stand that set the tone of the innings. Liton was out in the ninth over, caught at second slip off Kagiso Rabada. The catch by South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis was low enough for the umpires to check the replays, but it proved to clean.

Shakib Al Hasan came in at number three for only the second time in his career, and when he reached 17 he became the fastest player – in terms of matches – to achieve the ODI double of 5,000 runs and 200 wickets, and the fifth player ever to reach that mark. Before that, Imrul Kayes, who played well for 31, was caught down the leg side off a short delivery from Dwaine Pretorius.

A scratchy innings from Shakib ended on 29 when he edged a googly from leg-spinner Imran Tahir to first slip to leave Bangladesh on 126 for three in the 26th over. Mushfiqur, ever aware of the need for quick runs, had announced his intentions with a classy square cut for his first boundary and a down-the-wicket four off Andile Phehlukwayo.

A 69-run partnership with Mahmudullah Riyad, the highlight of whose innings was a down-the-track pull for six off a 140kph Rabada bouncer, formed the backbone of the innings. Before that, Mushfiqur gave notice of his sublime form by debutant Dane Paterson for an advancing six over square cover to reach his 50 off his 52nd deliver.            

The partnership with Mahmudullah ended in the 29 th over when he skied a pull off Pretorius to be out for a 27-ball 26.

Sabbir Rahman scored a fast 19 and just after he was dismissed by Rabad in the 46th over and during his partnership with Mushfiqur the latter reached his fifth ODI ton off his 108th ball with a nudge for two.

Debutant Mohammad Saifuddin then hit an 11-ball 16 as Bangladesh scored 76 runs in the last 10 overs for the loss of three wickets to reach 278, their highest total in South Africa. But Amla, De Kock and Bangladesh's bowlers that proved to be woefully inadequate.