Heinrich Klaasen celebrates his century throughout the ODI World Cup 2023 match between England and South Africa at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on October 21, 2023.
| Photo Credit: PTI
For a nation that has by no means received the 50-over World Cup regardless of producing a few of the greatest gamers and groups, South Africa look decided to go the distance on this version, shedding the ‘chokers’ tag.
With one 400-plus and one other near-400 whole to their credit score and an enormous 229-run win over reigning champions England, South Africa have made a robust assertion forward of the fixtures towards New Zealand and India.
Heinrich Klaasen, who smashed a 67-ball 109 towards England, seen these two matches as an ideal event for his aspect to ship in a high-pressure scenario, usually termed the Achilles Heel of South African groups.
“Our World Cup performances, everyone, obviously, has got their tag over us but we have played some good cricket. We’ve been unlucky, and obviously, we did not execute on certain games,” Klaasen informed the media right here on Saturday.
“But if you look at our games that we have played, we have played some very, very good cricket in the World Cup (history). It is not a surprise that we are playing good cricket.”
“This group has been playing good cricket for the last three years now. We’ve been maturing nicely. It is our time to really try to make a big statement for the world, that South Africans are very good under pressure. We have done it before,” Klaasen mentioned.
The wicketkeeper-batter, who struck his third hundred of the yr, described the circumstances in Mumbai as excruciating.
Klaasen cracked 12 fours and 4 sixes throughout his innings, and the effort under the sweltering warmth and humidity in the metropolis has left him a drained man.
“It ranks up to one of my better hundreds purely on the conditions that were out there. I really had to dig deep mentally. Physically, I was not in a good space, but mentally I had to dig very deep there,” Klaasen mentioned.
“It is like just breathing in hot air and every time you try to run it is just sapping more and more energy and then at the end of the day, your body just does not want to work with you anymore,” he mentioned.
“It is like almost running in a sauna for the whole innings, which is what we obviously prepare for and we are used to these conditions. But it still takes a lot out of the body,” he added.
Klaasen revealed the warning Marco Jansen, his accomplice for England demolition job, served after they met in the center.
Klaasen and Jansen hammered 151 runs for the sixth wicket — a report for South Africa.
“Marco has been working extremely hard on his batting and he is taking a lot of pride in his death hitting as well. He has been disappointed in a couple of the innings that he did not really pull through,” the 32-year-old mentioned.
Klaasen added, “He told me that he has got me and that I am not allowed to walk off the field if I don’t score 100. I told him, but I can’t run and he said, it’s fine, just give me 100% every time you face the ball,” Klaasen mentioned.
The Transvaal man was additionally stuffed with reward for Reeza Hendricks, who made a huge effect on the sport by scoring 85 at the high order.
Hendricks was a last-minute substitute for South Africa captain Temba Bavuma who fell unwell.
“Reeza got a late call, I think it was about 10 minutes before, 5 minutes before the coin toss that Temba is down. And to perform like that, and the couple of the shots that he played under pressure shows where we are as a South African cricket group,” Klaasen mentioned.
