NEW DELHI: South Africa rewrote Cricket World Cup batting records as it beat Sri Lanka by 102 runs, with three Proteas batters smashing centuries on Saturday in their tournament opener.
Aiden Markram (106) hit the World Cup’s fastest-ever century off 49 balls; Quinton de Kock, in his farewell international tournament, scored 100; and Rassie van der Dussen made 108 as South Africa amassed 428-5.
It was the first time three batters from the same team had scored centuries in a single innings of a World Cup game.
Sri Lanka, which won the toss in New Delhi and chose to field, always lagged behind despite Kusal Mendis’ blistering 76 off 42 balls in the batting powerplay. Sri Lanka was dismissed for 326 in 44.5 overs.
“Probably a blessing in disguise that we lost the toss,” South Africa captain Temba Bavuma said afterward.
Markram’s belligerent knock surpassed Kevin O’Brien’s 50-ball century in Ireland’s famous win over England at the 2011 World Cup. The South African total was also the highest in a World Cup, surpassing Australia’s 417-6 against Afghanistan in 2015.
De Kock and van der Dussen shared a 204-run second wicket stand after Bavuma was trapped leg before wicket by Dilshan Madushanka.
Sri Lanka, going into the World Cup without injured ace legspinner Wanindu Hasaranga, couldn’t stop the flow of runs either through pace or spin as de Kock and van der Dussen smashed 25 boundaries and five sixes between them.
De Kock top-edged an easy catch at mid-on off Matheesha Pathirana a ball after he completed his century and van der Dussen also holed out at long-on soon after completing his century.
It was all Markram’s brilliant power-hitting in the latter stage of South Africa’s innings as he cut loose soon after completing his half century off 34 balls.
He raised his next 50 off only 15 balls when he smacked Pathirana over square leg for a six in an over that went for 26 as all the Sri Lanka bowlers got a hammering.
“I know what’s expected of me as a batter,” Markram said. “Initially, you want to get a feel for the wicket and find out the options you can take and then back it.”
Pathirarana (1-95) and Kasun Rajitha (1-90) went for plenty while Madushanka (2-86) and young left-arm spinner Dunith Wellalage (1-81) also had a forgetful World Cup outing.
Markram was dismissed after smashing 14 fours and three sixes in hot conditions as he holed out at long off before David Miller continued to push the scoring rate with a breezy unbeaten 39 off 21 balls.
Chasing a huge target, Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka (68) finally ended a lean spell in ODIs with his first score of 50-plus since his century against India early this year while Charith Asalanka (79) was also among the runs before Sri Lanka got bowled out with more than five overs to spare.
“We expected to keep them to 350-370, we thought it would be manageable given Asalanka and Mendis’ form but we couldn’t deal with the extra runs,” Shanaka said.
Seamer Gerald Coetzee picked up 3-68 and spinner Keshav Maharaj took 2-62.
Marco Jansen, who picked up two early wickets before being smashed around, had 2-92 as Mendis flicked the left-arm seamer for big sixes.

BANGLADESH CRUSHES AFGHANISTAN

Mehidy Hasan Miraz starred with bat and ball in hilly Dharamsala as Bangladesh crushed Afghanistan by six wickets.
After Bangladesh won the toss and elected to field, Afghanistan was skittled out for 156 with all-rounder Mehidy picking up 3-25 and skipper Shakib Al Hasan claiming 3-30.
Mehidy then scored 57 runs in 73 balls as Bangladesh made 158-4 in 34.4 overs, easing home with 15.2 overs to spare.
Afghanistan made a good start to its innings with Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran (22) putting on 47 for the first wicket.
Gurbaz added another 36 with Rahmat Shah (18) before Shakib struck twice to remove Zadran and Shah.
The turning point came when Mehidy dismissed Hashmatullah Shahidi for 18 as the skipper went for a slog.
Four balls later, Mustafizur Rahman removed the in-form Gurbaz for 47 with a slower ball and the Afghanistan slide continued, with the last three wickets all falling on 156.
Bangladesh then made a poor start to its innings, Tanzid Hasan going for five and Litton Das for 13.
Mehidy, though, added 97 in 129 balls with Najmul Hossain Shanto for the third wicket to steer Bangladesh toward its target.
Naveen-ul-Haq removed Mehidy thanks to a brilliant catch at mid-off from Shah, but Shanto stayed until the end, scoring 59 not out off 83 balls including three fours and a six.
During the innings, Afghanistan’s Mujeeb ur Rahman made a sliding fielding attempt close to the backward square leg boundary at the HPCA Stadium and his knee was almost jammed up in the outfield, with a patch of grass coming clean off.
“We are lucky Mujeeb hasn’t got a serious knee injury today,” Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott said afterward. “Yes, he probably shouldn’t have dived on his knee, but we see it is the product of cricket all around the world where players are taught and encouraged to improve their fielding. (But) we have got players unsure of whether they can dive (here),” Trott said.
When asked if the ground was fit to host international games, Trott replied, “I don’t think that’s a decision for me to sit here and make an assessment of. You have got players worried about getting injured. It is for them (the ICC) to look at and keep an eye on.”
But Trott also added: “It is not the reason why we lost today.”