As blistering unbeaten century from Heinrich Klaasen (119 from 61 balls) took South Africa to a commanding 4 wicket win against the West Indies in the third One Day International at the J.B. Marks Oval in Potchefstroom.
Klaasen reached his century from only 54 balls smashing 15 fours and 5 sixes in the process. 90 of his runs came in the form of boundaries.
His innings helped the Proteas reach the West Indies score of 260 with 20.3 overs to spare, reaching 264/6 – an incredible feat with an overall run rate of 8.94 to the over.
Photos: Wouter Pienaar
The Proteas had no remorse for the West Indian bowlers as the Potch crowd were treated to a festival of boundaries.
Early wickets gave the West Indies a sniff, as Alzarri Joseph (3/50) got rid of Ryan Rickelton and Van der Dussen cheaply. When Klaasen entered the J.B. Marks Oval there was still a lot of work to be done.
A couple of big blows from Klaasen helped switch the momentum back to the home side, as he never got bogged down, even when losing his batting partners at the other end.
Marco Jansen (43 off 33 balls) also played beautifully with Klaasen in a 103 run partnership that took the game away from the Windies. They especially targeted the spinners with some brilliant shots all around the ground.
“I’m very pleased at this moment. The pitch was really good. It was definitely one of my better knocks,” stated Klaasen during the post-match interview.
