Another ICC Event, And South Africa’s Batting Looks Just As Formidable

Days before the 2025 Champions Trophy began, there was clamour from a section of South Africa fans to draft Matthew Breetzke into the squad on the back of the youngster’s record-breaking showing in the tri-series. That did not happen.

So no Breetzke for the Champions Trophy.

Worse, in the clash against Afghanistan today, the Proteas did not have both Heinrich Klaasen (injured) and Tristan Stubbs (dropped) either.

Yet none of these things mattered one bit as South Africa picked up from where they left in the 2023 ODI World Cup to post a mammoth 315/6 against a very tricky Afghanistan bowling unit to kick-start their Champions Trophy campaign in some style. 

It was, for reference, the team’s second-highest total in Champions Trophy history. The Proteas have now crossed the 300-run mark in ODIs a whopping 12 times in ODIs since September 2023, the joint-most for any team during the said time period.

New year, new ICC tournament but South Africa’s batting looks just as formidable. And the game today felt like a proper warning to the rest of the field: ‘be alert, we’re just getting warmed up.’

This was South Africa’s first major ODI without Quinton de Kock, who is among the best ODI batters of this century and arguably in the top five greatest South African ODI batters of all time. De Kock’s last outing in ODIs was an outrageous 2023 World Cup campaign in which he amassed 594 runs in 10 innings.

Yet someone watching South Africa for the first time today couldn’t have guessed in a thousand years that Ryan Rickelton was a newbie trying to fill in the shoes of a legend. For Rickelton, all of six ODIs old, compiled a flawless, classic ODI knock, giving away the vibes of a veteran. 

He did all the things you could ask for from an ODI opener: went hard up-front, milked the bowling post the field restrictions while collecting the odd boundary and, most importantly, converted a start into a hundred. A daddy hundred would have turned the 10/10 showing into a 11/10 performance but let’s not get too greedy, eh?

Early days, but Rickelton looks like he is more than capable of filling-in for QDK.

South Africa will continue to be encouraged by the form shown by their skipper Temba Bavuma. He’s now batted 12 times since the start of the South African home summer - across formats - and has crossed the 50-run mark a whopping 7 times. 

Above all, though, nothing will please the Proteas more than the knock played by Rassie van der Dussen today. In general, Van der Dussen is seen as someone who scores big runs at a slower rate, yet that was not the case today. 

The situation - South Africa 157/2 in 28.5 overs when RVD walked in - demanded the right-hander to be more dynamic, and he did just that. His 52 runs came at a strike rate of 113 and the way he took on Rashid Khan was mighty impressive. 

Rashid is Afghanistan’s trump card and batters, in general, try to play him out, but, on the day, van der Dussen took him for 20 off 15 balls, thumping two mighty sixes over mid-wicket. In many ways this unsettled and upset Afghanistan, particularly with Noor Ahmad at the other end having a bad outing (1/65 off 9).

If there was any doubt over Van der Dussen’s spot in the XI, this knock definitely settles it.

And if the knocks of Rickelton, Bavuma and Van der Dussen weren’t enough, Aiden Markram walked in at No.5 and flexed his muscles, hammering a 36-ball 52*. Lord have some mercy?

The Champions Trophy, particularly in its current avatar, is pretty tricky, where one loss can potentially mean curtains. So in a way, every single contest in this competition is a must-win.

It remains to be seen if South Africa will go all the way, but, yet again, their batting looks primed to take them deep into the competition. Maybe, just maybe, this time they’ll sustain the brutality till the very end, and the trophy will end up coming home.