England levelled the Women’s Ashes series with a thrilling two-wicket win over Australia in their opening ODI at Bristol.
The multi-format series now stands at six points apiece with remaining ODI matches at Southampton and Taunton to play.
Australia need to win only one of those games to retain the Ashes, but the momentum is very much with England after three successive victories.
Back-to-back T20 wins had revitalised England but crossing this particular line against opponents who had won 41 of their last 42 ODI matches will generate huge belief that they can upset the odds.
Australia’s 263 for eight was overhauled with 11 balls to spare, thanks largely to captain Heather Knight’s unbeaten 75 from 86 balls and a brilliant late cameo from Kate Cross, and their fate would have been worse had England not dropped four catches and shelled a stumping opportunity.
Six England bowlers shared the wickets as bowlers as Beth Mooney, reprieved on 19 and 39, top scored with an unbeaten 81.
England were always ahead of the required rate after Tammy Beaumont and Alice Capsey brought up a rapid hundred in the 12th over, but Australia’s ability to take wickets at regular intervals left the contest in the balance.
Australia chose to bat as morning showers and overcast conditions gave way to blue skies but captain Alyssa Healy – who made 170 against England at the 2022 World Cup final – fell third ball after opening up with two boundaries.
Cross’ lbw review was upheld and England rejoiced knowing a major blow had been struck.
England should have built on that but Ellyse Perry was dropped on six driving Cross to Sophie Ecclestone at first slip, an initial sign that Australia would ride their luck.
Perry and Phoebe Litchfield were quick to punish anything pitched short as Australia reached 62 for one off 10 powerplay overs.
Litchfield – 36 from 34 balls – saw her innings end in spectacular style as she targeted a seventh boundary off the bowling of Nat Sciver-Brunt.
The ball looked as if would clear Ecclestone but the spinner thrust out a left hand above her head and celebrated the dismissal by putting a hand over her mouth in amazement.
Perry survived again on 36 attempting to hit Ecclestone over the top and Sarah Glenn spilled a presentable chance at mid-on.
But Perry did not have a third life on 41 as Glenn the bowler atoned and Sciver-Brunt accepted the chance at short mid-wicket.
England were left to rue careless hands again as Tahlia McGrath flashed Cross hard to point and Beaumont failed to hold on diving to her left.
Mooney was also fortunate as she miscued a Glenn full toss and Cross put it down diving forward at mid-off. Those errors ended up costing England 79 runs.
McGrath, dropped on seven, reached 24 before Capsey beat her defensive prod for a first ODI wicket and Mooney breathed again after striding down the pitch to Ecclestone only for Amy Jones to miss a stumping wide down the legside.
Australia’s progress was slowed by losing two wickets in the space of three Lauren Bell deliveries.
Ashleigh Gardner departed to an excellent Sciver-Brunt catch over her shoulder running towards the mid-wicket boundary, while Annabel Sutherland lost her off stump for nought as Australia slipped to 185 for six.
But Mooney and Jess Jonassen prevented a late-innings collapse by sharing a seventh-wicket partnership of 55 as England were set a challenging target on a slow surface.
England’s reply was aided by wayward bowling which saw the amount of extras in the first three overs exceed the entire number of the Australia innings.
Darcie Brown and Perry sent down two no-balls and 10 wides as England sped away, despite the early departure of Sophia Dunkley for eight.
Beaumont and Capsey went on the offensive to such an extent that 84 runs came from the opening 10-over powerplay.
Three figures were brought up by Beaumont smashing Sutherland for a six over long-off, but she soon holed out after making 47 from 42 balls.
Capsey contributed 40 from 34 before picking out Sutherland on the long-on boundary off Gardner and it was often a case of poor shot judgement as Australia profited and piled on the pressure.
Sciver-Brunt (31) top edged a reverse sweep off Jonassen, Danni Wyatt (14) drove Megan Schutt to backward point and Amy Jones gave Georgia Wareham a return catch.
England’s self-destruct button was pressed again as Ecclestone found Wareham on the boundary and Gardner claimed a third victim as Glenn drove straight to Litchfield at short cover.
But Cross made a superb 19 not out from 20 balls, including an audacious ramp shot as she provided the cameo Knight craved to get England home.
Player of the Match Brandon King scored his second ODI century as the West Indies defeated Oman by seven wickets with 62 balls to spare in the 2023 Cricket World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe on Wednesday.
Chasing 222 for victory the West Indies reached their target in the 40th over. King scored an even 100 and Captain Shai Hope, an unbeaten 63 to secure their first win in the Super Six stage of the tournament.
With both teams already eliminated from contention from qualifying for the ICC World Cup in India later this year, the match was of academic interest.
However, the West Indies were looking to save face after losing to the Netherlands and Scotland in consecutive matches. After winning the toss, Hope asked Oman to take first strike.
The bulk of the scoring came from Suraj Kumar, whose unbeaten 53 and Shaoib Khan, an even 50, helped Oman to 221-9. Opener Kashyap Prajapati got 31 and Aayan Khan, 30, in the face of accurate bowling from Romario Shepherd who took 3-44 and Kyle Mayers 2-31 from seven overs.
Kevin Sinclair, who replaced the injured Yannic Cariah in the West Indies squad finished with 1-42.
With the West Indies looking for their first points of the Super Six stage, they Caribbean side lost Johnson Charles for four with only seven runs on the board.
However, Keacy Carty and King settled nerves with an 80-run second wicket partnership before the latter was run out for 29. From there the West Indies were cruising as King and Hope steered the West Indies to the brink of victory with a third-wicket partnership of 96 that was broken when King feathered a catch through to wicketkeeper Kumar off the bowling of Bilal Khan for 100.
His second ODI century came off 104 deliveries and included 15 sublime boundaries.
Hope and Nicholas Pooran scored the remaining runs without much bother with Hope scoring his 23rd ODI 50 along the way. Pooran was unbeaten on 19 at the end.
The West Indies will play their final match of their failed campaign against Sri Lanka on Friday. Sri Lanka has already qualified for the ICC World Cup.
Half centuries from Stafanie Taylor and Chinelle Henry spurred the West Indies Women to a six-wicket victory over Ireland and a 2-0 win in the three-match CG United One Day International series at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground in St. Lucia on Saturday.
Winning the toss and batting first, Ireland posted 203 all out in 50 overs. The star of the Irish innings was Gaby Lewis, who was stranded on 95 not out from 121 deliveries.
Lewis shared a 50-run partnership with Cara Murray which proved crucial in steadying the ship after Ireland had lost quick wickets.
Afy Fletcher 10-0-37-3 and Shamilia Connell 4-0-16-2 kept the Irish batters in check.
In response, the West Indies Women started their innings shakily, losing a few early wickets.
However, it was Stafanie Taylor who once again rescued her side. She notched her 40th ODI half-century while showcasing her experience and composure in a challenging situation.
Taylor found a reliable partner in Chinelle Henry, who carried on her good form from the first ODI, hitting her second consecutive half-century.
Together, they put on a match-winning 104-run partnership, steering their team to a comfortable victory with 8.4 overs to spare.
This was captain Hayley Matthews first series win.
“I’m happy that we were able to get over the line in a series that we were looking to dominate,” she said.
“We earned valuable ICC Women’s Championship points, Stafanie is back in form and Chinelle is coming into her own along with debuts from our youngsters, I’d say those are some serious positives we can take away from this series.
“We all knew the potential Chinelle has and what we have been expecting from her, it’s great to see her scoring runs and I know there’s more to come.”
Taylor was awarded Player of the Match for her outstanding knock of 79 not out under pressure, while the Player of the Series was given to Hayley Matthews for her all-round performance.
The two teams will now switch to the shorter format when the three-match T20 International series starts on Tuesday at the same venue. All matches will start at 5pm Eastern Caribbean time (4pm Jamaica time).
T20 International Series:
All matches start at 5pm Eastern Caribbean Time (4pm Jamaica Time)
Tuesday 4 July: 1st T20I
Thursday 6 July: 2nd T20I
Saturday 8 July: 3rd T20I
Kevin Sinclair has been named as the injury replacement for Yannic Cariah in the 15-member squad for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 Qualifier tournament, being played in Zimbabwe, Cricket West Indies announced on Wednesday.
Cariah, the leg-spinner and left-handed batsman, had surgery on a nasal fracture last week after getting hit in the nets. He has not recovered sufficiently to resume playing at this stage, CWI said. Sinclair the tall off-spinner and right-handed batsman is due to arrive in Harare on Thursday.
The Event Technical Committee of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023 approved the replacement. The replacement of a player requires the approval of the Event Technical Committee before the replacement player can be officially added to the squad.
The Super Six stage will be played from Thursday 29 June to Friday 7 July. West Indies ended third in Group A with two wins and two defeats and play three Super Six matches against the sides qualifying in the top three positions from Group B. Those three matches will be against Sri Lanka, Scotland and Oman.
The final will be played at Harare Sports Club on Sunday 9 July. The two finalists will progress to the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 to be played in India in October and November.
Full Squad: Shai Hope (captain), Rovman Powell (vice-captain), Shamarh Brooks, Keacy Carty, Roston Chase, Johnson Charles, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Keemo Paul, Nicholas Pooran, Romario Shepherd and Kevin Sinclair.
Super Six Match Schedule
(all matches start at 9am/3am East Caribbean/2am Jamaica)
Saturday, 1 July: Scotland v West Indies, Harare Sports Club
Wednesday, 5 July: West Indies v Oman, Harare Sports Club
Friday, 7 July: v Sri Lanka, Harare Sports Club
Senior Manager for Cricket West Indies (CWI), Roland Holder, has described India as “very peculiar in making their arrangements” after confirming that they have yet to confirm when they will arrive for their tour of the West Indies set to start on July 12 with the first Test at Windsor Park in Dominica.
The tourists will first fly to Barbados before being chartered to Dominica for the first Test. The series will consist two Tests, three ODIs and five T20Is from July 12 to August 13.
Holder, speaking on the Mason & Guest radio show on Tuesday, says India has yet to confirm when they will be arriving for the tour.
“They are still working through their flight options but they are anticipating arriving on July 1,” said Holder.
“It varies from country to country,” he said about teams communicating their plans for tours quickly.
“India are very peculiar in making their arrangements and things are subject to change with them very often. You don’t always get the confirmations you need in your time, you probably get it in their time,” he added.
The former West Indies batsman said the original plan was for India to arrive on July 1 and play a four-day warm-up game at a later date but the Indians had other ideas.
There’s usually a discussion between both countries as to what they want to happen. The FTP has India arriving on July 1 and there was to be a four-day warm-up game. They subsequently said they don’t necessarily want that so they’ll confirm when they will arrive,” Holder said
“They didn’t confirm so we couldn’t confirm when they will arrive. In the last few days, they have come back with some options which have reverted to arriving potentially on June 30th or July 1, which I’ve communicated to the relevant parties,” he added.
Holder added that their lack of confirmation means important logistical matters like booking charter flights and hotels are delayed.
“Potentially, we have them arriving in Dominica on July 7 but I’m waiting on confirmation from them. Without that confirmation, we have them booked for July 9. Until they can confirm when they want to go to Dominica, I can’t necessarily go to the hotel and the charter airline companies and say I need a flight for this day or I need a room for this day. While I can alert them, I can’t confirm. We are working all those options so we can swiftly put plans in place once we know what is happening,” he said.
Shai Hope and Nicholas Pooran each scored hundreds as West Indies recovered from another bad start to post 339-7 from their 50 overs in their ICC World Cup qualifier match against Nepal at Harare on Thursday.
Hope scored 132 and Pooran 115 as the West Indies recovered from 55-3 to post their highest score so far in search of their second win in the qualifiers.
After being sent in to bat, West Indies lost the wickets of Kyle Mayers and Johnson Charles for one and nought, respectively, with only nine runs on the board in the fifth over.
However, Hope and Brandon King stabilized the situation somewhat before King was bowled by Sandeep Lamicchane for 32 to have the West Indies in trouble on 55-3.
Hope and Pooran turned things around with a fourth-wicket partnership of 216 that put the West Indies in command. Hope got to his 50 in 73 balls and included five fours and a six as the West Indies wrested back control of proceedings.
Pooran, meanwhile, was more efficient, smashing three fours and a six in his 50 that came from just 51 balls.
As the pair exerted their dominance on Nepal’s bowlers, the 100 partnership came up in 94 balls. It took them 32 additional deliveries to bring up the 150-run partnership with Pooran being the dominant partner with 83 of those crucial runs. Hope’s contribution was 66 as the West Indies picked up momentum to push the scoring rate above six runs an over.
Hope got to his 15th ODI hundred from just 107 balls with Pooran’s second ODI ton coming off just 81 balls and included nine fours and four sixes.
The 200-run partnership was achieved in just 159 balls as the Caribbean men eyed a score of 350.
The partnership was broken in the 44th over when Pooran was dismissed, out caught and bowled by Dipendra Singh Airee for 115.
Rovman Powell added a quick-fire 29 from just 14 balls as the West Indies past 300 runs.
The West Indies lost two wickets in the 50th over bowled by Lalit Rajbanshi. Hope was caught by Bhim Sharki at long off for a magnificent 132 and Keemo Paul was bowled off the final ball of the innings leaving Jason Holder unbeaten on 16.
Rajbanshi was the best of the Nepalese bowlers with 3-52.
Eoin Morgan felt he was incapable of producing the record-breaking 148 from 71 balls that ushered England to a crushing 150-run victory over Afghanistan and to the top of the World Cup standings on this day in 2019.
The England captain pulverised a world record 17 one-day international sixes out of a team total of 25, another new benchmark in the format, while his 57-ball ton was the fourth quickest in the tournament’s 44-year history.
Rohit Sharma, Chris Gayle and AB De Villiers cleared the boundary rope 16 times in an innings, but Morgan’s feat was even more remarkable as it came only days after he limped off against the West Indies with a back spasm.
“Never have I ever thought I could play a knock like that. I’m delighted that I have,” Morgan said. “All the work over the last four years, over the course of my career, it all comes to the front now.
“The last four years I’ve probably played the best in my career. But that hasn’t involved the 50 or 60-ball hundred.”
Any lingering fears over Morgan’s back injury were subsequently allayed following a knock that relegated hefty contributions from Jonny Bairstow (90) and Joe Root (88) to footnotes in England’s 397 for six at Old Trafford.
Morgan was dropped on 28 in the deep by Dawlat Zadran off Rashid Khan, who came in for some heavy punishment from the Dubliner en route to miserable figures of 9-0-110-0.
Afghanistan were never likely to mount a serious challenge to the total as they crashed to a fifth successive defeat to remain rooted to the foot of the group-stage table. However, they managed to avoid being blown away and posted 247 for eight.
Morgan raced past Root in the 40th over, during which he became the eighth man to reach 200 ODI sixes. He converted 50 into 100 in just 21 deliveries, clearing the ropes three times in six Rashid Khan balls, and kept on swinging.
Morgan levelled the sixes record with back-to-back blows off Gulbadin, then brushed off Root’s dismissal by hitting a 17th hard over his fellow skipper’s head. He holed out next ball, finally falling short as he aimed over long-off.
England went on to be crowned world champions for the first time following a dramatic final against New Zealand at Lord’s that went to a Super Over and was eventually decided by boundary count.
Brandon King scored his maiden ODI century to lead the West Indies to a comprehensive seven-wicket win over the United Arab Emirates with 88 balls to spare in the opening match of their three-match series at Sharjah on Sunday.
Captain Shai Hope showered praised on his bowlers for the clinical execution in the lop-sided victory.
“There was no hurry. They all bowled well, I can't single out too many, and I was happy with the execution,” he said. “Nice to see Hodge play in West Indies colours now and hopefully we can continue. I don't think there were devils in the surface but credit needs to be given to the bowlers.”
He reserved special praise for the Player of the Match.
“King is an exceptional player and someone who I thought would've scored a lot more runs early in his career. But happy for him. He saw the opportunity to take the game forward and happy to see him get his first hundred today,” said Hope who collected the award for King, who was suffering from cramps.
Set a target of 203, King scored a run-a-ball 112 to guide the West Indies to 206-3 from 35.2 overs in the day/night encounter. He was the last man out with the West Indies 10 runs shy of their target.
King shared in an opening stand of 48 with Johnson Charles that ended when Charles bowled for 24 while going for a big shot off Zahoor Khan delivery that cut back to hit his off stump for 24.
A 91-run second wicket partnership followed between King and Shamarh Brooks, who rode his luck before he was eventually trapped lbw by Aayan Azfal Khan for 44. King, who was dropped on 52, then took the match away from the hosts with a 54-run partnership with Keacy Carty before being last man out, caught behind off the bowling of Rohan Mustafa.
King’s knock included 12 fours and four sixes, three of which came in the 34th over bowled by Karthik Meiyappan. The second of those sixes took King from 96 to his first ODI century.
Captain Shai Hope replaced him and quickly ended proceedings with consecutive sixes off Karthik Meiyappan to end on 13 not out from just four balls. Carty was on seven from 19 balls when the match ended in the 36th over.
UAE won the toss and chose to bat and were restricted to 202 all out in 47.1 overs. Ali Naseer scored a useful 58 from 52 balls and Vriitya Aravind, a contrasting 40 from 77 balls. Asif Khan also contributed 27 against the West Indies attack led by Keemo Paul, who took 3-34.
Dominic Drakes took 2-29, Yanic Cariah weighed in with 2-26 and Odean Smith 2-40.
The three-match ODI Series between UAE and the West Indies will now begin a day earlier with the two teams playing the opener on Sunday, 4 June at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
The first match was originally scheduled for Monday, 5 June. The West Indies Men’s team will arrive in Dubai on Thursday, 1 June.
The second match will be played on Tuesday, 6 June with the third and final match scheduled for Friday, 9 June.
All three day-night matches will start at 4:30pm with the toss at 4pm at the iconic Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Both teams will depart for Zimbabwe at the end of the series for their World Cup qualifying campaign which begins on 18 June.
The all-important tournament will confirm the remaining two spots for the 10-team ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, India.
UAE vs West Indies ODI series, matches to start at 4:30pm (8:30AM Caribbean/7:30AM Jamaica)
4 June – UAE vs West Indies, Sharjah Cricket Stadium, UAE
6 June – UAE vs West Indies, Sharjah Cricket Stadium, UAE
9 June – UAE vs West Indies, Sharjah Cricket Stadium, UAE
Full squad: Shai Hope (captain), Brandon King (vice captain), Alick Athanaze, Shamarh Brooks, Yannic Cariah, Keacy Carty, Roston Chase, Dominic Drakes, Kavem Hodge, Akeem Jordan, Gudakesh Motie, Keemo Paul, Raymon Reifer, Odean Smith, Devon Thomas.
Barbados Women’s won all five of their matches to be crowned champions in the CG United Women’s Super50 Cup for 2023. Playing in the final round against Leeward Islands on Wednesday, the Bajans bowled out the hosts for 74 and then reached the target of 75-3 to record an easy seven-wicket victory at Warner Park.
Barbados captain Hayley Matthews was one of the tournament’s leading performers and said it was a joy to win their fourth consecutive 50-overs regional title. She showered praise on her team-mates.
“We had high expectations so it was really good that we could have a good start to the tournament and finish it with a really good win. Throughout the tournament, we had performances and contributions from everyone which was very pleasing. The juniors were given an opportunity to come through and find their game and they did exactly that. I’m very happy with the way the seniors and junior came together to win the title,” she said.
In the other matches on Wednesday: Trinidad and Tobago Red Force Divas defeated Guyana by 76 runs at St Paul’s Complex to end in second place, while Jamaica beat Windward Islands by eight runs in a close contest at Conaree.
The players will now switch to the T20 Blaze tournament which starts on Saturday at Warner Park.
MATCH SCHEDULE
CWI T20 Blaze (Round 1-4 to be played at Warner Park)
Round 1: Saturday 20 May
Windward Islands vs Guyana – 10am
Leeward Islands vs Jamaica – 2:30:pm
Trinidad & Tobago red Force Divas vs Barbados – 7pm
Round 2: Sunday 21 May
Windward Islands vs Leeward Islands – 10am
Guyana vs Barbados – 2:30pm
Jamaica vs Trinidad & Tobago Red Force Divas – 7pm
Round 3: Tuesday 23 May
Trinidad & Tobago Red Force Divas vs Windward Islands – 10am
Jamaica vs Barbados – 2:30pm
Guyana vs Leeward Islands – 7pm
Round 4: Thursday 25 May
Jamaica vs Guyana – 10am
Leeward Islands vs Trinidad & Tobago Red Force Divas – 2:30pm
Barbados vs Windward Islands – 7pm
Round 5: Saturday 27 May – 8am
Leeward Islands vs Barbados – Warner Park
Trinidad & Tobago Red Force Divas vs Guyana – St Paul’s
Jamaica vs Windward Islands – Conaree
Mickey Arthur has agreed to return for a second spell with Pakistan as director of cricket.
The South African will continue in his role as Derbyshire head of cricket and work with Pakistan outside the county season.
Arthur wil be part of the Pakistan coaching staff for the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India, a tour of Australia, a home series against West Indies and the Asia Cup contests with India.
During his tenure as Pakistan head coach from 2016 to 2019, the 54-year-old mastermind an ICC Champions Trophy success six years ago, while he also took the Test and T20I sides to the top of the rankings.
The former Australia and South Africa coach said: "I am absolutely thrilled to be rejoining the Pakistan cricket team and look forward to working with the group.
"Since moving on, I have kept a track of the players and their collective performances.
"This is a talented bunch with the potential to be number one across all formats and my endeavour is to put in place strategies and create an environment that can contribute in further enhancing their performances so that we can extract the best out of them."
The Pakistan Cricket Board had revealed in January that they held talks with Arthur with a view to making him Saqlain Mushtaq's successor as head coach, but could not reach an agreement.
New Zealand's ODI captain Kane Williamson is set to miss this year's ICC World Cup after scans confirmed he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) fielding in the Indian Premier League.
The decorated 32-year-old batsman underwent scans on Tuesday having sustained the injury to his right knee fielding in the Gujarat Titans' season opener against the Chennai Super Kings on Friday.
Williamson, who returned to New Zealand following the incident, will likely miss the World Cup in India in October and November given the significant rehabilitation timeframe for an ACL injury.
"I look forward to doing what I can to support [New Zealand coach] Gary [Stead] and the team over the next few months," Williamson said in a New Zealand Cricket statement.
"Naturally it's disappointing to get such an injury, but my focus now is on having the surgery and starting rehab.
"It's going to take some time, but I'll be doing everything I can to get back on the field as soon as possible."
Williamson averages 47.83 across 161 ODIs with 13 centuries and 42 half-centuries, with his absence at the World Cup to be a major blow for the Black Caps. Tom Latham is the leading candidate to take over as captain at the World Cup.
"You take Kane the player for a start, but then Kane the leader and the person he is within our group as well, it's a huge spanner in the works for us," Stead said.
"We haven't given up hope that he might be right but at this stage it does look unlikely. Our first thoughts are with Kane at the moment, it's a tough time for him, it's not an injury you expect…it hits you pretty hard."
New Zealand were beaten in the 2019 World Cup final by England in a dramatic super over on the boundary count back rule. Williamson was named Player of the Tournament in 2019, making 578 runs in 10 games.
A maiden ODI century from Aiden Markram powered South Africa to a dominant 146-run victory over the Netherlands and a series sweep with it in Johannesburg.
Markram's impressive 175 helped the hosts to an imposing total of 370-8, before Sisanda Magala's five-for skittled any Dutch hope.
Victory not only means the Proteas clean up their two-game series, but also vault West Indies to go eighth in the World Cup Super League table and boost their automatic qualification hopes.
For the Netherlands however, it leaves them further adrift at the bottom as they prepare instead for a trip to Zimbabwe to compete in June's final qualifiers.
South Africa did not make the cleanest start after they were put in to bat, and looked laboured at 32-2 following the loss of Quinton de Kock (8) and Temba Bavuma (6) early on at Wanderers Stadium.
Markram's arrival at the crease saw a dramatic turnaround in fortunes as he punished the visitors with a freewheeling display, aided by David Miller's 91 for a 199-run fifth-wicket partnership.
Spirited efforts from Musa Ahmed (61) and Max O'Dowd (47) in response looked like they had set the stage for the Netherlands to make a game of it.
But the collapse of their tail – orchestrated by Magala with figures of 5-43 – ultimately saw them finish 224 all out, comfortably off the pace and condemned to another loss.
Markram rises to the occasion again
Two days after his 51 not out helped the Proteas to an eight-wicket win in their first game with the Netherlands, Markram was at it again in Johannesburg.
Not only was his 175 his maiden century in ODI cricket, but it also marks his highest individual score at senior international level across any format.
Magala pushes for World Cup spot
Just under 18 months on from his international debut against the Netherlands in November 2021, Magala enjoyed his best game yet with the ball in hand.
It is his first five-for in seven ODIs, and with the World Cup on the horizon, he will have done no damage to his prospects of potential inclusion.
South Africa boosted their chances of making the World Cup as captain Temba Bavuma's unbeaten 90 gave them a comfortable eight-wicket win over the Netherlands.
Needing to win both matches against the Dutch and hope Ireland lose at least one of their three matches against Bangladesh in May in order to qualify automatically for the World Cup, which will be held in India later this year, the Proteas eased to victory on Friday.
This ODI was the second of a three-match series that was supposed to take place in late 2021, but was postponed because of concerns over a COVID-19 variant. The first match ended with no result.
The importance of the match was reflected in the strong squad chosen by South Africa, with Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada included despite their imminent IPL commitments.
Nortje played a key role in restricting the Netherlands to 189 all out despite scores of 45 and 48 from Vikramijit Singh and Teja Nidamanuru respectively, taking 2/24 off his eight overs while Sisanda Magala and Tabraiz Shamsi picked up three wickets each.
It was the Netherlands' second-highest ODI score against South Africa, but the Proteas cruised to the winning total regardless as Bavuma's sublime innings (90 not out from 79 balls) helped them to victory.
Aiden Markram chipped in with a half-century off just 37 balls, though it was his captain who finished the job as Bavuma smashed the ball back past bowler Ryan Klein for four to seal the win.
Temba Bavuma and Anrich Nortje have been recalled to South Africa's ODI squad for the upcoming series with the Netherlands.
Captain Bavuma was rested while pace bowler Nortje was injured for the final ODI against West Indies last week as South Africa levelled the series with a four-wicket victory.
But the pair will return for the two-match series with the Netherlands, which gets underway on Friday in Benoni, as South Africa look to boost their chances of reaching the World Cup in India later this year.
South Africa will seal their place at the tournament if they win the Netherlands series. If they fail to do so, however, they will be forced into a qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe in order to reach the World Cup.
The Proteas are riding the crest of a wave after a stunning six-wicket T20I win over West Indies on Sunday, recording the highest successful run chase in the format's history as Quinton de Kock's brilliant century saw them chase down 259.
After their first meeting in Benoni, South Africa and the Netherlands will renew acquaintances at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on April 2.
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