Klaasen slices and dices West Indies to square series in Potch

THE much-talked-about positive brand of cricket under new coach Rob Walter was on full display as centurion Heinrich Klaasen spearheaded the Proteas to a four-wicket victory over the West Indies in Potchefstroom yesterday.

South Africa quite easily chased down the target, after the visitors finished on 260 off 48.2 overs, at the JB Marks Oval as they ended on 264/6 off 29.3 overs to level the series at 1-1.

Klaasen got off the mark with a single after Kyle Mayers found the edge of Aiden Markram’s bat in the 11th over of South Africa’s run chase.

His next ball was a beautiful cover drive for four off the bowling of Odean Smith, and from that shot onwards his intention was clear – he was not going to hold back from playing his strokes.

Together with David Miller, Klaasen built a 55-run partnership in 6.1 overs. A series of aggressively-hit pull shots and beautiful drives through the covers took Klaasen to a 54-ball century.

The Proteas batters looked to fight fire with fire throughout their innings, and it was clear that the message from the coaching staff was to be positive by all means necessary.

Rassie van der Dussen persisted with the pull shot, backing himself and refusing to yield to a fierce opening spell from Alzarri Joseph.

Despite his dismissal when attempting to pull a Joseph short ball in East London, Van der Dussen didn’t write off the shot from his repertoire, and as he lived by the sword, he eventually died by it for 14.

Markram came in at No 4 and dished out sumptious cover drives off Joseph and hit a monstrous six off the bowling of Jason Holder.

He too lost his wicket going for a booming drive outside off-stump, courtesy of a Mayers leg-cutter. Also in that instance, whether successful or not, a positive option was explored.

At one point, the Proteas were on 68/2 after 10 overs. Five overs later, they went to 101/4 and before the 30th over, they had chased down 261 runs with the loss of two more wickets.

Marco Jansen showed off his big-hitting skills as well. The tall all-rounder used his long reach and cleared the boundary with ease on his way to 43 off 33 deliveries.

He also looked positive in his demise as he tried to follow up a boundary through the leg side with a back-foot shot through the covers, only to find Shamarh Brooks stationed at backward point for a simple catch.

The West Indies bowlers were taken apart by a determined Proteas batting line-up, with Klaasen putting on a master-class. The right-hander’s unbeaten 119 off 61 balls included 15 fours and five sixes at an impressive rate of 195.08.

Earlier, the plan to bowl first by Markram’s Proteas side – with regular captain Temba Bavuma ruled out with a hamstring problem – looked to backfire as the seamers just could not take any wickets.

Brandon King and Mayers were back taking the attack to the Proteas bowlers, as they did at Buffalo Park.

But this time the West Indies were the West Indies of old, a mirror of what we saw from them at Buffalo Park, as they gave their wickets away after settling into their innings.

Nicholas Pooran got in and out for 39, Holder went out on 36 and skipper Shai Hope fell after facing 27 balls for his 17.

Jansen (2/46) brought his A-game in Potchefstroom, a big improvement from his disappointing bowling performance in East London.

Gerald Coetzee (2/53) was his usual fierce self, while Bjorn Fortuin (2/46), Lungi Ngidi and Wayne Parnell got themselves on the wickets’ tally as well.

The highlight of South Africa’s bowling performance was Markram with his 1/30 in 10 overs. He bowled 34 dot balls and took the big wicket of Holder in the 44th over.