Rilee Rossouw scored the first century of the Twenty20 World Cup and built a partnership of 163 with Quinton de Kock to drive South Africa to a thumping 104-run victory over Bangladesh on Thursday.
Muscular lefthander Rossouw pummelled eight sixes and seven fours around the Sydney Cricket Ground for his 109, while de Kock pitched in with 63 runs as the Proteas dodged the rain to rack up an imposing tally of 205 for five.
Paceman Anrich Nortje (4-10) took up where the batsmen let off with three top-order wickets, including that of dangerman Shakib Al Hasan for one, and Bangladesh were 66-5 after 10 overs and all out for 101 after 16.3.
“To score a hundred in a winning cause is fantastic,” said Rossouw.
“Very chuffed with my performance today but more important is we got the two points.”
Having been robbed of a likely victory in their abandoned Super 12 opener by the rain in Hobart on Monday, South Africa again contended with the elements after winning the toss and choosing to bat in their second Group 2 contest.
After the early afternoon showers cleared, Bangladesh paceman Taskin Ahmed removed skipper Temba Bavuma in the first over but that only brought Rossouw and de Kock together to wreak their havoc.
Taskin’s second over went for 21 runs and the South African pair had put on 60 by the time the rain returned to force a break just before the end of the powerplay.
The innings stalled after De Kock holed out in the deep and Rossouw had a nervous moment when he was dropped on the boundary on 88 before reaching the century mark with a single off the 52nd delivery he faced.
The South Africans finished poorly after the early fireworks and Shakib finally winkled out Rossouw when the batter looped a delivery to Litton Das in the covers. Bangladesh, roared on by the majority of the crowd, made a bright start to their innings but backing up their maiden win in the second round of the T20 World Cup on Monday always looked a big ask.
Litton top-scored with 34 but South Africa spinner Tabraiz Shamsi took 3-20 to keep the wickets tumbling and Nortje returned to complete the rout by clean bowling Taskin.
