South Africa have been destructive with the bat so far in the 2023 World Cup. They have the highest run rate of any team in the tournament and the two highest scores in the competition so far. Here’s a list of all the records they’ve broken.
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In their first game of the competition the Proteas struck the highest total of any team in the history of the men’s competition. They scored 428-5 batting first against Sri Lanka, with Quinton de Kock, Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram all hitting centuries. Markram’s was at the time the fastest century ever hit in the competition, coming off 49 balls. However, Glenn Maxwell broke his record less than three weeks later against the Netherlands at the same venue.
South Africa have also hit the fifth-highest score in the tournament’s history, whacking 399-7 against England at the Wankhede. Heinrich Klaasen hit a 61-ball hundred in that game, which is the eighth fastest in the competition’s history.
In their 190-run win over New Zealand in Pune, South Africa went past England’s record from the 2019 World Cup of the most sixes hit by a team in a single edition. They have hit 82 sixes so far, with two matches left in the group stage.
If South Africa qualify for the semi-finals, they will have the possibility to become the highest scoring side ever in a single edition of the World Cup. They currently have 2,355 runs from seven games, with the highest scoring side also being England in 2019 with 3,183. Another 828 runs would see them go past them. South Africa’s eight individual hundreds is also a record in a single World Cup.
Their current team run rate, 6.92, is the highest of any team in a single edition ahead of their own previous record from the 2015 tournament.
On an individual level, De Kock is now tied with Kumar Sangakkara in second place for the most number of centuries (4) scored by a batter in a single edition of the tournament. Rohit Sharma scored five centuries in the 2019 tournament, and if De Kock’s fitness prevails he will have at least two opportunities to equal him. He is also in joint sixth on the list for the most sixes hit in a single edition on 18, with Chris Gayle to current leader having hit 26 in 2015. De Kock also has a realistic shot at Sachin Tendulkar’s record for the most runs hit in a single edition, with De Kock currently on 545 and Tendulkar on 673 from the 2003 tournament.
