South Africa beat Australia by 134 runs in the 10th match of the ODI World Cup 2023, which was played at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Thursday (October 12). The Proteas rode on wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock’s second back-to-back century in this year’s 50-over megaevent to post a total of 311 runs on the board for the loss of seven wickets and then dismissed the Aussies for 177 runs in 40.5 overs. For the Temba Bavuma-led side, Kagiso Rabada picked up the highest number of three wickets, whereas two batters each were dismissed by Marco Jansen, Tabrez Shamsi, and Keshav Maharaj in the second half of the match.
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With the win over five-time ODI World Cup winners on Thursday, South Africa has moved to No. 1 position in the ODI World Cup 2023 points table. They have the same number of four points as New Zealand, India, and Pakistan have after playing two matches and winning both. But due to a better net run rate, Proteas leads the points table.
The South African team’s net run rate is +2.360, whereas New Zealand is in No. 2 with an NRR of +1.958. Host India is in third place with four points and a net run rate of +1.500, followed by Pakistan, which has an NRR of +0.927. These are the only four teams that have won both of their opening matches.
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With a total of two points after winning one match and losing another, England is in fifth place (NRR +0.533), followed by Bangladesh in sixth (NRR -0.653). Sri Lanka, the Netherlands, Australia, and Afghanistan sit in the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th positions with zero points and NRRs of -1.161, -1.800, -1.846, and -1.907, respectively.
Most Runs
De Kock has scored two centuries in two matches played so far, and with a total of 209 runs to his name, he leads the race to win the golden bat. Pakistan’s Muhammad Rizwan is in second place with 199 runs, followed by Sri Lanka’s Kusal Mendis (198), New Zealand’s Devon Conway (184), and Rachin Ravindra (174). South Africa’s Aiden Markram is sixth with 162 runs, and England’s Joe Root is 7th with 159 runs.
Most Wickets
New Zealand all-rounder Mitchell Santner, who picked up a five-wicket haul against the Netherlands on October 9, is the leading wicket-taker in the ODI World Cup 2023. He has seven scalps to his name in two matches. Three pacers—Jasprit Bumrah of India, New Zealand’s Matt Henry, and Pakistan’s Hasan Ali—are in second place with six wickets each.
