"We did what we have been doing" - South Africa captain Temba Bavuma

South Africa registered a massive win by 190 runs over New Zealand in the 32nd match of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. New Zealand won the toss and opted to bowl. Put into bat, South Africa managed a huge total of 357 as Quinton de Kock and Rassie van der Dussen smashed centuries.

While chasing, New Zealand batters couldn’t contribute much. Glenn Phillips top-scored with 60 as they lost the game eventually.

See also: “It’s crucial that we don’t worry about external factors and just look at things we can control” – Rohit Sharma

Who said what after the match?

Temba Bavuma, South Africa captain said: Clinical display I would say. We had a good partnership between de Kock and Rassie. Fairly happy, clinical in terms of the execution by the bowlers. Quinny and I tried to assess the conditions. We pouched on the bad balls, was able to get a couple of away. Quinny wasn’t in his flow at the start, but stuck to the plan – go unscathed till the 30th over and then maximise with our big hitters. We knew they were going to come hard at us, and we would get the opportunities. We did what we have been doing. Need to check with our (team) manager, but looks like this win does guarantee us a semi-final spot, so we’ll celebrate a bit tomorrow and back to work day after.

Tom Latham, NZ captain said: Not our best performance. We were under pressure after that partnership (between de Kock and Rassie.) It was a big score. From the batting point of view, we had to have those partnerships, but we had our back against the wall. Those two played fantastically well. Should have restricted them to 330-odd, that would have been better. It was a small ground and a good surface, but we couldn’t do much in those first 10 overs. I think they put themselves in a great position, we were not able to build partnerships, that was disappointing. We have faced adversities with injuries. We will reflect on to this one quickly and move to the next one to be played at Banglaore (vs Pakistan). We don’t become a bad team overnight.

Rassie van Der Dussen, who won the Player of the Match award, said: I thought they bowled pretty well up front. Our run-rate was around 4 runs per over. It was a hard working fifty for Quinny (de Kock) and then he guided me. We batted together quite nicely. The pitch got better when the ball got softer, luckily it worked well for us. It’s one of those pitches when you hit a good length there’s something in it for the bowlers, so we communicated that to our bowlers. Test match lengths work. They kept a lid on us but we knew if we take it deep we can score big later. Quinny was brilliant in reminding me to keep my shape. Be relentless if it’s in your area but respect the good ball. Miller and the others were brilliant at the end. 300-320 is what we were talking in the middle. Very pleased we got over the line by a good margin. Everyone contributed. Out and out team performance.