Hammering don’t get much more destructive than what Heinrich Klaasen and Marco Jansen handed to the England bowlers in their World Cup 2023 encounter on Saturday at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai.
At one point, after David Miller’s wicket and the South Africa scorecard reading 243/5 in the 37th over, it felt that England would restrict South Africa to under 350, which would be par for the Wankhede surface considering that dew is expected to arrive in the evening.
However, the carnage from Heinrich Klaasen and Marco Jansen meant that South Africa finished with 399/7, a total definitely above par. To add more worries for England, they are also short on batting today with David Willey carded at number 7 and Adil Rashid at number 8 as Jos Buttler dropped all four all-rounders in Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone after their loss to Afghanistan.
England will need to bat out of their skins, and need special knocks from their top 6, to even come close to chasing down this target.
Heinrich Klaasen and Marco Jansen shared a partnership of 151 runs in only 77 balls. Klaasen scored 109 runs in 67 balls with the help of 12 fours and 4 sixes.
That he made this while struggling with the heat and humidity in Mumbai and often needing drinks and treatment from the physio made this knock even more special, at the end of which he received a standing ovation from the packed Wankhede crowd. Jansen played like a true number 7, scoring 75* runs in 42 balls, walloping 3 runs and 6 sixes.
This epic knock from Heinrich Klaasen led to a flurry of memes on Twitter:
Teams:
South Africa (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram(c), Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi
England (Playing XI): Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler(w/c), David Willey, Adil Rashid, Gus Atkinson, Mark Wood, Reece Topley
