South Africa is on the verge of qualifying for the ODI World Cup
Aiden Markram hit a century and Sisanda Magala took five wickets to help South Africa beat the Netherlands by 146 runs in a one-day international on Sunday, putting them on the verge of World Cup qualification.
South Africa batted first and scored 370/8 off 50 overs before Magala took his first five-wicket haul to help dismiss the Dutch for 224. Markram scored 175 runs off 126 balls.
South Africa moved up to eighth place in the World Cup Super League standings, where they will now automatically qualify for the World Cup in October.
The tournament in India features the top eight teams, and South Africa can now only be knocked out by Ireland, who must win all three games in their home series against Bangladesh next month to do so.
Markham scored his first ODI century in a 199-run fifth-wicket partnership with David Miller, who blasted 91 off 61 balls before skying a shot and missing out on his century.
Miller hit 10 boundaries while Markham hit 17 fours and seven sixes.
The Netherlands bowling attack started well, dismissing South Africa’s openers cheaply, but then came in for a peppering, eventually averaging 7.4 runs per over.
Musa Ahmed hit an ODI career-high 61 and Max O’Dowd added 47 as the Dutch chased a daunting target but were never able to keep up with the required run rate. They were dismissed in 39.1 overs.
South Africa’s victory, which came on the heels of an eight-wicket win over the Dutch in Benoni on Friday, knocked the West Indies out of eighth place in the Super League standings and relegated them to the qualifying playoff tournament in Zimbabwe in June, where they will compete for one of two available places at the 10-team World Cup.
Already qualified for the tournament, which runs from October 5 to November 5. Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, New Zealand, Pakistan, and India are among the 19 countries represented.
