De Kock, Bowes guide SA to victory
Quinton De Kock and Chad Bowes shared a colossal 212-run opening partnership to set up a massive victory by 209 runs in their second ICC under 19 Cricket World Cup match against Namibia on Tuesday. It is the fifth highest partnership by runs in the tournament's history. The partnership set the foundation for South Africa's daunting 359/6 at the innings' finish.
South Africa won the toss and chose to bat first because of wet grass on a warm morning at the Peter Burge Oval in Brisbane. De Kock and Bowes played intelligent cricket and managed to keep their wickets intact during the more tricky patches early in the innings and did well to return figures of 126 (off 106 balls) and 115 at a run-a-ball respectively.
The South Africans gave a good show to the spectators, striking the ball to all parts of the field while scoring at 7.18 runs per over.
De Kock said: "Chad and I got off to a good start but it was difficult in the morning with a sticky and bouncy wicket. We had to work hard for our runs and I'm proud of our achievements today, they were well fought for."
Gihahn Cloete (36*), Theunis de Bruyn (27) and Diego Rosier (22) added vital runs and kept the score board ticking as wickets fell at regular intervals. It was a difficult day for Namibia, who struggled to take wickets from the start. Dropped catches and missed fielding opportunities also added to their woes. Zhivago Groenewald was the pick of their bowlers, taking three wickets for 85 runs in nine overs.
It was a different fielding story for South Africa as De Bruyn took four wickets for 20 runs in just four overs to chip away at the Namibian attack at regular intervals and keep their scoring rate at 3.26 runs per over. Prenelan Subrayen took two wickets at crucial times to ensure that Namibia were bowled out for 150 with four overs to spare.
There is no rest for the team as they gear up to face Sri Lanka tomorrow. The sub-continent side bounced back with a good victory over Namibia by 195 runs after losing their first match to Bangladesh by 25 runs.
This match will be a major decider as to which two teams from Pool D advance to the quarterfinals.
"We've got good momentum going into tomorrow's match with Sri Lanka, the confidence is up and the spirit within the side is high. We have a good net run rate so it will take a little bit of the pressure off going into the game, but we're ready to give it our best shot," Bowes said.
