Rossouw and de Kock’s partnership make South Africa win

• Rilee Rossouw smashed seven fours and eight sixes
• To score hundred in winning cause is fantastic: Rossouw

SYDNEY: South Africa defeated Bangladesh by a whopping 104 runs on Thursday thanks in large part to Rilee Rossouw, who made the first century of the Twenty20 World Cup and forged a 163-run partnership with Quinton de Kock.

De Kock contributed 63 runs, and powerful lefthander Rossouw pounded out eight sixes and seven fours for his 109 as the Proteas escaped the downpour with an impressive total of 205 for five.

With three top-order wickets, including that of dangerman Shakib Al Hasan for one, pacer Anrich Nortje (4-10) picked up where the batsmen left off, and Bangladesh was 66-5 after 10 overs and all out for 101 after 16.

“To score a hundred in a winning cause is fantastic,” said Rossouw.

“Very chuffed with my performance today but more important is we got the two points.”

South Africa faced the weather once more after winning the toss and deciding to bat in their second Group 2 match after the rain forced the cancellation of their Super 12 opener in Hobart on Monday.

The Bangladeshi pacer Taskin Ahmed removed the captain Temba Bavuma in the first over after the early afternoon showers stopped, but it simply brought Rossouw and de Kock together to cause mayhem.

When the rain returned to force a break just before the end of the powerplay, the South African pair had amassed 60 runs by the time Taskin’s second over went for 21 runs.

De Kock’s deep hole caused the innings to drag, and Rossouw’s scary moment came when he was dropped on the boundary at 88 before he singled off the 52nd pitch he faced to reach the century mark.

After the early fireworks, the South Africans had a terrible performance. Shakib eventually got Rossouw out when the batter hooked a pitch to Litton Das in the covers. The bulk of the fans cheered on Bangladesh as they made a strong start to their innings, but it was never going to be easy for them to follow up their first victory in the second round of the T20 World Cup on Monday.

While South African spinner Tabraiz Shamsi grabbed 3-20 to keep the wickets falling, Litton led the way with 34 runs, and Nortje came back to finish the job by clean bowling Taskin.