Proteas pace bowlers sweep through Afghanistan despite “flat pitches”

Flat pitches with no movement or turn appeared to have been a real scare for the Proteas going into the ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan.

But a stellar performance with the fast ball against Afghanistan on Friday showed why cricket is played on a field and not ‘on paper’.

Spearheaded by pace maestro Kagiso Rabada, the Proteas pace attack, with the exception of Keshav Maharaj’s left-arm spin, swept through a meek Afghan team to win by 107 runs in Karachi.

Captain Temba Bavuma won the toss and put the boys in green to bat first.

Coming off the back of an immensely successful SA20 league with MI Cape Town, Ryan Rickelton carded a maiden ODI century with his 103 from 106.

Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram all put up half centuries to help push the Proteas to a comfortable 315/6.

If the plus-300 target did not shake up the Afghani team, Proteas opening bowlers certainly did with the new ball.

There were some fears of what Noor Ahmad could do with the ball following his performances for Durban’s Super Giants in the SA20, but the young bowler was thrashed around the National Bank Stadium, going for an expensive 1/65 from nine overs.

The lanky Marco Jansen, master KG and Lungi Ngidi found some pace and bounce that was not really seen during the tri-series or warm up games in Pakistan.

Pace and bounce - that was too good for the likes of Ramanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran or Sediqullah Atal.

Rabada was the pick of the Saffa bowlers with his spell of 3/36 from 8.3 overs, while Jansen picked up 1/32.

A returning-to-form Lungi Ngidi showed why the Proteas named him on their Champions Trophy roster despite his recent performances.

Ngidi took the big wicket of Gurbaz with the new ball and finished with figures of 2/56 from 8.

He was the most expensive with the ball, but as bowling coach Anton Roux pointed out earlier this week, Ngidi was “taking steps in the right direction”.

Wiaan Mulder produces phenomenal figures with his medium-pace, squeezing the middle innings with his clinical 2/36 from 9 overs. Mulder and Maharaj were the most thrifty with the ball, with Maharaj the only one to bowl a 10-over spell.

The Proteas attack kept the Afghani side down to 208 runs all out and will hope to take some of this confidence and class into their next match against Australia on Tuesday.