South Africa on Wednesday smashed another record owing to their ongoing six-hitting spree, as they registered the highest number of maximums ever struck in a single edition of ICC’s ODI World Cup.
During their seventh match at the showpiece event, the Proteas’ batters hammered the opponent team, New Zealand with 15 sixes, jumping to 83 maximums in the overall tally for the competition.
With the outstanding feat, the Temba Bavuma-led side surpassed England’s record of 76 sixes, set in 2019 when the Englishmen were crowned champions.
While England took 11 innings to establish this benchmark, South Africa achieved it in just seven innings.
West Indies secured the third position on the list with 68 sixes during the 2015 World Cup, followed by Australia in the fourth spot in the 2007 edition.
In the meantime, South Africa compiled another total exceeding 300 runs in the 2023 World Cup, thanks to outstanding centuries from Quinton de Kock and Rassie van der Dussen.
De Kock has continued his remarkable performance with his fourth century in seven innings. He is now only one century away from equaling the all-time record of five centuries in a single World Cup, held by India’s Rohit Sharma, which was achieved in 2019.
De Kock is also the first batter in the ongoing tournament to surpass the 500-run mark, with a total of 545 runs from seven innings at an average of 77.85.
“I am feeling really good lately,” De Kock told the broadcasters during a mid-innings chat. “Nice that everything is coming together at an important time for us.
He said New Zealand were quite impressive with the new ball and he did struggle to get into a rhythm.
“They bowled really well upfront, especially (Trent) Boult . I felt quite scratchy upfront, I couldn’t find my rhythm, I was getting a couple of messages from the guys on the bench to bat through. I just want to keep batting. My career is coming down to a finish, trying to bat as much as I can,” De Kock said.
