Breetzke strengthened his position in fight for South Africa place — TimesLIVE

South Africa batter Matthew Breetzke scored his second ODI century and helped the team defeat Australia by 67 runs in the first match at Kingsmead Stadium. South Africa finished their innings at 297/8, with Breetzke coming to the wicket at 29/2.

As TimesLIVE reports, the pitch was difficult for batters early in the match and favoured Australia’s fast bowlers. Ryan Rickelton scored 27 runs from 26 balls, while Temba Bavuma and David Miller were unable to adapt to the conditions.

Partnership with Jansen

When Miller was dismissed, South Africa were 168/5, with 16 overs remaining in the innings. Breetzke had 76 runs at that point. According to him, he wanted to play more aggressively, but the team was losing wickets.

Marco Jansen played an important role in developing the innings. Breetzke noted that Jansen helped change the pace of the game: he could give his partner the strike more often, while Jansen accelerated the scoring rate. It was Jansen’s third half-century.

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Jansen also took the key wicket of Travis Head and made four catches. One of them came after a shot by Matt Renshaw and, according to TimesLIVE, virtually determined the outcome of the match.

Breetzke’s record start

This performance was the eighth time Breetzke had scored at least 50 runs in 14 ODI innings. Over that span, he has 822 runs and surpassed the previous record of Pakistan’s Imam-ul-Haq, who had 759 runs after 14 innings. In three matches against Australia, Breetzke scored at least 50 runs on each occasion.

He had previously also helped the team in difficult situations. In Mackay, Australia, South Africa were 23/2 when Breetzke began his innings, and he scored 88 runs to help the team reach 277. In September last year at Lord’s, he made 85 runs, was named player of the match, and South Africa beat England by five runs.

Breetzke’s performance increases competition for places in South Africa’s middle order ahead of the next World Cup. David Miller, Tristan Stubbs and Dewald Brevis are also competing for these positions, while Rickelton’s appearance at number five gives selectors more options.