Australian bowlers were taken to the cleaners by Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller as the two batters breathed fire with their bats and helped South Africa post a gargantuan target of 416 runs in 50 overs during the fourth ODI at the SuperSport Park Cricket Stadium in Centurion on Friday.
Klaasen, 32, played a destructive knock of 174 off just 83 deliveries with a breathtaking strike rate of 209.63. His knock consisted of a total of 26 boundaries which included 13 fours and 13 sixes.
On the other hand, Miller played an unbeaten 82 off 45 courtesy of 11 boundaries at a strike rate of 182.22.
The two batters put on a double-century stand, scoring an astonishing 222 runs in just 92 balls.
The batters played at 14.74 runs per over (RPO) during their record partnership and broke the record of England's Jos Buttler and Eoin Morgan, where the two batters put on a double-century stand at 10.03 RPO.
Klaasen's 174 also became the second-highest score by a batter from No.5 or below after India's Kapil Dev's unbeaten 175 against Zimbabwe in the 1983 World Cup.
Australia's Adam Zampa became the victim of Klaasen and Miller's aggression as the Aussie conceded 113 runs in 10 overs, which is the joint-most by any bowler in the ODIs.
Zampa joined his countrymate Mick Lewis, who — just like him — conceded the same number of runs against the same opposition in 2006 when the Proteas chased down 435.
By the time this story was filed, Australia were batting at 177-4 in 23 overs with Alex Carey (67*) and Tim David (27*) still on the wicket.
It must be noted that South Africa were 2-0 behind in the five-match ODI series after the first two matches but the home side made an excellent comeback and recorded a massive 111-run win in the third ODI and the way today's match is going, it looks that they will level the series 2-2.
- Heinrich Klaasen
- David Miller
