South African captain Temba Bavuma guided his side one step closer to automatic qualification for the Cricket World Cup after they defeated the Netherlands by eight wickets in the second one-day international at Willowmoore Park.

In Benoni, Bavuma scored 90 runs and didn’t get out. This helped South Africa reach their victory goal of 190 runs with 20 overs to spare.

South Africa will be the last team to qualify for the World Cup in India in October and November if they win the final match in Johannesburg on Sunday or if there is no winner.

Bavuma said that his own good play was due to “a certain level of support and confidence in the environment right now.”

Bavuma did not refer directly to the appointment of Rob Walter as head coach following the resignation of former Test wicketkeeper Mark Boucher but said: “I think a lot of the guys are feeding from the environment. We are also quite clear about how we want to go about things.”

Sisanda Magala, a fast bowler, was named man of the match. He got three wickets for 37 runs, and the Netherlands were out for 189 runs. After Vikramjit Singh (45) and Max O’Dowd (18) put together 58 runs off 66 balls, he got rid of both of them. He then went back and got the top scorer, Teja Nidamanuru (48), out.

Aryan Dutt, an off-spinner who shared the new ball and got one for nine in four overs, got rid of Quinton de Kock for nine runs.

But Dutt hurt his right knee when he ran into Musa Ahmed in the outfield. He had to leave the pitch because of this. He came back later, but it was clear that he was in pain. In two more overs, he gave up 21 more runs.

Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen (31) put up 70 runs for the second wicket. Then, Bavuma and Aiden Markram (51 not out) went on the offensive and added 102 runs without losing a wicket off 69 balls to end the game on a cold, windy night when it looked like it might rain but didn’t.

It was the second of three games in a row. The first game, which was supposed to happen in November 2021, was cancelled because of rain, and the other two games were put off because of a Covid scare.

Sri Lanka was kicked out of the World Cup when they lost to New Zealand on Friday. If South Africa wins on Sunday, they will go to the World Cup, unless Ireland wins all three games against Bangladesh in England in May.

Photo by Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix