Heinrich Klaasen had nothing left to give. Except everything. Batting in Mumbai’s punishing air – 36 degrees hot and thick with smoke – against England at the Wankhede on Saturday, Klaasen had to prise himself off his haunches, his knees and his back just to keep going, nevermind score runs in South Africa’s World Cup cause.
“I had to dig really, really deep,” Klaasen said. “I didn’t have any energy left. But I’ve got family [wife Sone and daughter Laya] upstairs. Checking on them helped me get through those moments. And, obviously, it’s an honour for us to play for our country.”
What was it like batting in extreme conditions? “It’s like breathing in hot air, and every time you try to run it’s just sapping more and more energy, and then your body just doesn’t want to work with you anymore. It’s almost like running in a sauna for the whole innings. We prepare for that and we’re used to these conditions, but it still takes a lot out of the body.”
Having spent himself in batting for three minutes more than two hours to score a 67-ball 109, Klaasen spent all of England’s reply in the players’ area wrapped in a towel. But by then he had done his bit to secure his team’s victory, which was achieved by 229 runs – England’s heaviest defeat, in terms of runs, in all of England’s 789 ODIs.
Klaasen’s performance was key to the South Africans making 399/7, the highest total yet scored against England in the format. He shared a stand of 151 off 77 with Marco Jansen, a sixth-wicket record for South Africa against England.
Besides scoring a career-best 75 not out off 42, Jansen helped Klaasen stay in the fight. “Marco also played a big part in that,” Klaasen said. “He told me he’s got me and that I’m not allowed to walk off the field if I don’t score a hundred. And I told him, ‘But I can’t run,’ and he said, ‘That’s fine – just give me 100% every time you face the ball.”
Klaasen had scored 40 runs off 31 balls when Jansen came to the crease in the 37th over after Aiden Markram and David Miller had been dismissed in the space of nine deliveries. Klaasen and Jansen stayed together until the first delivery of the 50th, when Gus Atkinson yorked Klaasen.
“Marco has been working extremely hard on his batting and he’s taken a lot of pride in his death-hitting,” Klaasen said. “I’m chuffed for him with the way he executed today. His intensity was a little bit low when we started but that wasn’t an issue because we needed to rebuild for four or five overs. That’s the best I’ve seen him hit a cricket ball in a very long time.”
Klaasen reached his century by hitting Mark Wood for six over long-on and four through fine leg off consecutive deliveries in the 47th. He celebrated by bellowing in Wood’s face, which he regretted and tried to make amends for.
“I did go and apologise [to Wood] immediately and after the game,” Klaasen said. “But he did hit me twice on the foot, which is hurting quite a bit. I’m sorry for him and the English boys but it’s pure emotion that came out and sometimes it’s difficult to control. I spoke to him after the game and hopefully everything is sorted.” It seems the apology had been accepted, as Jos Buttler admitted later.
South Africa’s win, which followed a shock loss to the Netherlands in Dharamsala on Tuesday, put them back on track for a semifinal berth. They are third in the standings with three wins from four games.
“We had one or two hard conversations as a group [after the loss to the Dutch], but our chats have been positive and we keep reminding the boys to play aggressive and positive cricket,” Klaasen said. “And it showed today that under pressure and tough conditions, especially in the heat, that the boys are willing to take the game on.”
None more so than Reeza Hendricks, who Klaasen revealed was told he would replace Temba Bavuma – who had a stomach problem – “five or 10 minutes before the coin toss”. Hendricks scored 85 off 75 and put on 121 off 116 with Rassie van der Dussen for the second wicket.
“To perform like that, and the shots he played under pressure, shows where we are as a group,” Klaasen said.
Klaasen became the fourth South Africa player to score a century during the tournament, a fact he pointed to as an indication of the squad’s overall health: “It’s not the same person [performing well] every time. We rely a lot on each other, we trust each other and we’ve got each other’s back. Every time someone else steps up to the plate.”
On Saturday that player was Klaasen. And Jansen, and Hendricks..
