Klassen smashed 13 sixes, helping South Africa score 416 runs for five wickets against Australia, marking his second highest score against them.
Thanks to Heinrich Klaasen’s powerful innings of 174 runs, South Africa defeated Australia by 164 runs on Friday, leveling the five-match ODI series 2-2.
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Klaasen’s 13 sixes boosted South Africa’s score to 416 runs for five wickets against Australia, making it his second highest score against them.
In response, Australia scored 252 runs in 34.5 overs, and the disappointment of the loss will be amplified due to the injury to opening batsman Travis Head, which might keep him out of the upcoming World Cup next month.
In the ninth over, Head suffered a nasty blow to his hand from Gerald Coetzee’s delivery, and he had to leave the field.
Klaasen’s innings ensured a significant victory for the home team after a slow start, which Australia always had to catch up to.
About match
South Africa had set an extraordinary score of 120-3 amid slow wickets during their innings, and when Klaasen came to bat, the average score was rising.
On his third ball, he scored four runs, and he never looked back, as he set the second highest ODI score for South Africa after the record set by Tunbridge Wells’ partnership of Kapil Dev against Zimbabwe in the 1983 World Cup.
Klaasen and Rassie van der Dussen played a crucial innings, scoring 62 runs off 65 balls for the fourth wicket, which accelerated the run rate for the host team. However, after Klaasen and David Miller, the bowling attack was taken care of.
The partnership between the two, scoring 222 runs off 94 balls, was the fastest double century partnership in ODIs. It came to an end with the last ball of the innings when Klaasen got caught deep in the field.
Miller scored 174 runs off 83 balls, while Miller remained unbeaten with 82 runs off 45 balls, and Josh Hazlewood took two wickets by giving away 79 runs in 10 overs.
David Warner and Head were in excellent form throughout the series, but Warner got out cheaply on Friday as Lungi Ngidi caught his shot, maintaining his remarkable performance.
After Head’s injury, Marnus Labuschagne got out at 20 runs, but Alex Carey and Tim David formed a partnership of 72 runs for the fifth wicket.
With David’s dismissal, his chances were effectively dashed. Carey was aiming for his century, but he got caught by Quinton de Kock at 99 runs.
The decision
The decision for this series will be made on Sunday in Johannesburg at the Wanderers.
