The Proteas will know from hereon their challenges at this ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan will only get tougher with England and world champions Australia laying in wait.
But on Friday evening at the Karachi Stadium they sidestepped a potential banana peel by dominating a hopelessly one-sided contest claiming victory over Afghanistan by 107 runs, courtesy of Ryan Rickelton’s maiden ODI century and a solid all round bowling performance.
There was never a realistic hope that Afghanistan could successfully chase down a record target of 316, but the contest was effectively done long before they were eventually bowled out for 208.
The Proteas’ ODI form heading into this Champions Trophy opener had been the worst of all the eight teams participating since the last World Cup.
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But as coach Rob Walter had continually pointed out during the run that had seen his team win just one bilateral series — against Ireland — from five attempts that his team are a completely different beast when they are at full strength.
And even though they are still missing express pace bowlers Anrich Nortje and Gerald Coetzee to injury for this tournament, Walter’s affirmation certainly rings true in relation to the Proteas bowling attack.
Spearheads Kagiso Rabada (3/36) and Marco Jansen (1/32), who have only played together in two ODI’s since the 2023 World Cup semifinal against Australia in Kolkata, provided the extra zest with their pace and bounce that was simply too hot for Afghanistan’s batters to handle upfront.
With the comfort of being able to slot in between the frontline pair, Lungi Ngidi was allowed to settle into his work much better and produced a confidence-boosting performance of 2/56, while allrounder Wiaan Mulder also chipped in with two wickets.
But for all the bowling heroics, it was all set up by Rickelton's 103 and three solid half-centuries from captain Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram.
Rickelton is enjoying the summer of his dreams. Fresh off two Test centuries, including a majestic 259 in the Newlands New Year Test, before driving MI Cape Town to a maiden Betway SA20 championship title with another avalanche of runs, he now has a maiden ODI century too in his first-ever appearance at a major ICC tournament.
Any butterflies that may have been there dissipated with a confident push down the ground for his first of seven boundaries in Fazal Farooqi’s opening over after Bavuma won the toss and elected to bat.
It certainly seems the Proteas have found their replacement for Quinton de Kock both at the top of the order and behind the stumps after Rickelton also stepped in for the injured Heinrich Klaasen.
The dashing left-hander shared a 129-run partnership with Bavuma (58 off 76 balls) for the second wicket after the early loss of Tony de Zorzi (11).
The pair pushed the Proteas up to 157/2 before Rickelton was joined by his MI Cape Town opening partner Rassie van der Dussen.
They simply carried on their Betway SA20 heroics with another brisk 44-run partnership off just 40 balls before their MI Cape Town captain Rashid Khan was quick to run out Rickelton by throwing the ball back to the wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz after it was hit straight back at him.
It was an unfortunate way for Rickelton to be dismissed after he had played so well, but Van der Dussen was not going to let his partner’s dismissal perturb him as he moved to his 15th ODI half-century off just 41 balls (3x4, 2x6).
Afghanistan staged a mini fightback by removing Van der Dussen (51), Miller (14) and Jansen (0), but Markram ensured the early momentum was not entirely lost with 52 off just 36 balls (6x4, 1x6)
He was particularly severe on Farooqi (1/59) by creaming four successive boundaries off the left-arm seamer.
All of this was too much to handle for Afghanistan despite the valiant lone effort from Rahmat Shah (90 off 92 balls), who fought until Rabada picked him up too at the end to bring the curtain down on an impressive opening performance from the Proteas.
Scorecard
South Africa: 315/6 (Rickelton 103, Bavuma 58, Markram 52*, Van der Dussen 52, Nabi 2/51)
Afghanistan: 208 all out (Rahmat 90, Rabada 3/36, Mulder 2/36, Ngidi 2/56)
South Africa won by 107 runs