Ryan Rickelton’s century and half-centuries from captain Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram set up an imposing 315/6 for the Proteas in their ICC Champions Trophy opener against Afghanistan in Karachi.
Rickelton transferred his form from both Test and T20 cricket to the ODI format with a superb 103 off 106 balls (7x4, 1x6) in his first appearance at a major ICC tournament.
The 28-year-old will also take the gloves when the Proteas take the field later on after Heinrich Klaasen was ruled out with an elbow injury prior to the toss, which Bavuma won and had no hesitation in wanting to take first strike.
It seems the Proteas have found their replacement for Quinton de Kock both at the top of the order and behind the stumps in Rickelton.
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The dashing left-hander shared a 129-run partnership with Bavuma (58 off 76 balls) for the second wicket after the early loss of Tony de Zorzi (11).
The pair pushed the Proteas up to 157/2 before Rickelton was joined by his MI Cape Town opening partner Rassie van der Dussen.
They simply carried on their Betway SA20 heroics with another brisk 44-run partnership off just 40 balls before their MI Cape Town captain Rashid Khan was quick to run out Rickelton by throwing the ball back to the wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz after it was hit straight back at him.
It was an unfortunate way for Rickelton to be dismissed after he had played so well, but Van der Dussen was not going to let his partner’s dismissal perturb him as he moved to his 15th ODI half-century off just 41 balls (3x4, 2x6).
Afghanistan staged a mini fightback by removing Van der Dussen (51), Miller (14) and Jansen (0), but Markram ensured the early momentum was not entirely lost with 52 off just 36 balls (6x4, 1x6)
He was particularly severe on Fazalhaq Farooqi (1/59) by creaming four successive boundaries off the left-arm seamer.
Former captain Mohammad Nabi was Afghanistan’s most successful bowler with figures of 2/51.
Afghanistan will need to complete a record ODI chase if they are to claim the spoils in this Group B opener.
Scorecard
South Africa: 315/6 (Rickelton 103, Bavuma 58, Markram 52*, Van der Dussen 52, Nabi 2/51)
Afghanistan require 316 runs to win