Proteas down Windies thanks to Klaasen fireworks

Heinrich Klaasen the Test batter and Heinrich Klaasen the ODI batter are two very different people. 

The former, based on the evidence of the two Tests against the West Indies recently, is not sure about how to pace his innings, while the latter plays with clarity and an arrogance that is bewildering. 

It is not as if he had a great foundation to build on in Potchefstroom on Tuesday. SA were 87/4 in the 13th over after Tony de Zorzi got in a tangle against Akeal Hosein and was trapped lbw.

The scoring rate of 7.25 was good, but the loss of four wickets so early in the run chase was a problem, because for all their ability with the bat Marco Jansen and Wayne Parnell still have not proved to be reliable.

It really was all on Klaasen and David Miller, who joined Klaasen at the fall of De Zorzi’s wicket. The standard operating procedure for such things is to “bat time” or “take the game deep”. Procedure be damned, according to Klaasen. 

By the time Miller had arrived, he had hit three fours, so he simply continued in that fashion; if the ball was pitched up, it was driven, if it was short it was pulled.  Sometimes it wasn’t even short, but so precise was Klaasen with his movement at the crease that he managed to upset the West Indies bowler’s length by shifting his weight back quickly and still found plenty of open space on the leg-side. 

The Proteas’s victory, which had not seemed probable when Miller joined Klaassen, was eventually achieved with ease. They reached the target with 123 balls to spare, with Klaasen hitting a six followed by consecutive fours off Yannic Cariah. 

The acceleration was incredible — between the 15th and 25th overs, the Proteas scored 105 runs for the loss of Miller’s wicket.

Klaasen reached his century off just 54 balls, the fourth fastest ODI century by an SA batter. He finished on 119 not out off only 61 balls, smashing 15 fours and five sixes. 

Meanwhile, after sharing a partnership of 55 with Miller, who scored only 17, there was a crucial sixth wicket stand with Jansen, in which the 22-year-old provided evidence of the kind of performance the Proteas want him to provide regularly with the bat. 

Jansen hit reverse sweeps off the spinners, driving over the leg side and pulling against the seamers to make 43 off 33 balls, and shared a 103-run partnership with Klaasen in just 10 overs. 

As for the rest of the batters, there are still question marks for new head coach Rob Walter. How much he learnt about the youngsters chosen for this series remains to be seen, though Walter will know that just two matches for De Zorzi and Ryan Rickelton are not enough to judge them properly. 

The Proteas were superb with the ball, particularly Aiden Markram, who stood in as captain for Temba Bavuma who has a hamstring injury. Markram brought himself on in the 26th over, with the West Indies having reached 150/3 and seemingly on track for a  total in excess of 300. 

However, they struggled to score against Markram’s part-time off-spin, and the pressure he created saw Bjorn Fortuin pick up the wickets of Shai Hope and Rovman Powell. The West Indies lost wickets regularly from then on, and Markram finished with 1/30 in 10 overs — bowling 34 dot balls in the process. 

West Indies’s top scorer was opener Brandon King, who made a run-a-ball 72, but there was little of any substance from the rest of the batters. 

Ultimately, Klaasen decided the outcome with one of the finest counterattacking innings by a Proteas batter. It left the outcome of the series at 1-1, with SA eyes now turning towards the two matches with the Netherlands where qualification for the 2023 World Cup will be at stake.