“It’s always good to take the team home,” said Player of the Match and series Heinrich Klaasen at the post-match presentation after saving the series for the Proteas against the West Indies.

At 87-4, South Africa found themselves in a bit of trouble but Klaasen completely turned this game on its head with a scintillating unbeaten 119 from just 61 balls to drag the Proteas right back in this match to save the ODI series as they share the spoils.

Seems to be the trend with the new coaches – give all their players a chance in their respective series against the West Indies especially considering this One Day series doesn’t form part of the Super League where the Proteas are yet to qualify. They reeled in the changes in the third and final ODI which they had to win to save the series. 

The bowlers put in an all-round good performance with the stand-in captain Aiden Markram ending with stellar figures of 1-30 in his 10-over allotment while Marco Jansen, Bjorn Fortuin and Gerald Coetzee all ended with 2 wickets. 

Wayne Parnell who was brought into the XI opened the bowling with Lungi Ngidi and he asked all the right questions early on. He bowled a probing 6th over that was a maiden before Marco Jansen was introduced as first change. The consecutive dot balls pressured Mayers as he tried to go big but a stunning diving catch from Ngidi gave Jansen a wicket in his first over and SA got the breakthrough they needed. WI were 61-1 after 10 overs. 

Lungi Ngidi was brought back into the attack. Brandon King played superbly. He continued his great form and converted his start this time to notch up a half-century, but eventually, he dragged it onto his stumps for a run-a-ball 72 to hand Ngidi his first. At the halfway mark West Indies were 148-3.

There were a couple of soft dismissals for the men in maroon. Saturday’s centurion only mustered 16 runs as Fortuin got into the wickets column and then he removed Powell who charged down the ground to give Rickelton an easy stumping. At 30 overs, WI were 164-5.

The SA bowlers kept things quiet and picked up regular wickets to peg the West Indies innings back slightly. Nicholas Pooran (39) and Jason Holder (36) chipped in with vital runs as the West Indies got bowled out for 260 with 10 balls remaining. 

In pursuit of 261 runs, a new-look opening pair for South Africa of Ryan Rickelton and Tony de Zorzi pushed up the order from the previous game. The latter scored 21. Alzarri Joseph bowled a brilliant spell to remove the former and then had the last laugh after Rassie van der Dussen hit him for two lovely boundaries to remove him with a short ball. 

After 10 overs SA were 68-2. The men in green kept up the run rate despite the loss of wickets at regular intervals as they found themselves being 5 down for 142 inside 20 overs.

The batting continued to be a mystery as they once again had a bit of a wobble when they lost wickets. Despite the wickets-column increasing there was a clear plan to attack and keep the scoreboard ticking. 

Heinrich Klaasen shared a 55-run stand with David Miller before a destructive 103-run partnership for the sixth wicket from 62 balls with Marco Jansen who was the next best batter with a brilliant 33-ball 43 (which included 5 fours and 2 sixes). They got the home side in a comfortable position to get over the line in Potchefstroom. 

Klaasen became the fourth fastest to score an ODI 100 after AB de Villiers (twice) and Boucher when he brought up a stupendous century from just 54 balls which included 12 fours and 2 sixes. 

He came to the crease with the Proteas in some sort of trouble with almost half the batters back in the dugout. He’s been in terrific form of late and showcased just how dangerous he is in white-ball cricket playing shots all around the ground.

“A pretty good wicket and that was one of my better knocks. We try to play conditions and not situation and conditions were really good there. Conditions dictate what shots you play. Yesterday, I had a training session where I was hitting from the inside half or outside half of the bat but then I took a few throwdowns. I will do whatever it takes to keep going,” said Heinrich Klaasen.

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