ICC Cricket World Cup 2023: South Africa Should've Been Clinical in Win Over Sri Lanka, Says Temba Bavuma

South Africa captain Temba Bavuma wanted a clinical performance from his bowlers after posting the highest total in Cricket World Cup history of 428/5 against Sri Lanka in their tournament-opener at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, adding that he was satisfied with individual achievements of his players.

South Africa rode on centuries from Quinton de Kock, Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram to thrash Sri Lanka by 102 runs in their first Cricket World Cup match.

ICC World Cup : Schedule | Results | Points Table | Most Runs | Most Wickets

Put into bat, the Proteas batters toyed with the Sri Lankan bowlers with van der Dussen (108 off 110 balls), Markram (106 off 54) and de Kock (100 off 84) smashing quickfire centuries.

“(I’m) happy. We wanted to win and did that. As a batter, nothing to find fault in. (We) asked for a clinical performance but didn’t get that. The individual performances were good,” he said after the match.

“(It was) probably a blessing in disguise that we lost the toss. (The) ball came on to the bat better after the powerplay. The point was to adjust with the conditions, we thought it’d be a bit more variable. Probably didn’t adjust early enough,” he said.

In reply, Kusal Mendis dazzled at the top with a rapid 76, Charith Asalanka top scored with 79 in the middle-order and Dasun Shanaka found form to hit 68.

But the target was way beyond Sri Lanka, who did well to make 326 in 44.5 overs, keeping South Africa on the park for as long as they could.

Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka said they faltered in execution in their first Cricket World Cup clash.

“I expected a high-scoring game. Rassie, Quinny, Markram got great hundreds. We were missing lengths regularly, execution wasn’t good. When we play again, we need to change that,” Shanaka said.

“We expected to keep them to 350-370, we thought it’d be manageable given Asalanka and Mendis’ form but we couldn’t deal with the extra runs. I’m happy with the positive intent with bat; first ten overs with ball was good too. Need to sharpen up for the next game,” he said.

(With inputs from Agencies)