Allround South Africa sweep series with resounding win

The series might have been sealed already but South Africa reserved their most ruthless performance for the dead rubber in East London on Sunday (October 22) as Bangladesh were subjected to a humiliating 200-run loss. The task to pull one back in the series was always going to be tough for Bangladesh on a tour that has been nothing short of disastrous. The task was only made harder by the absence of Tamim Iqbal and Mustafizur Rahman.

And to add to the misery of the visitors, the players who came in new for South Africa displayed a fearless brand of cricket that caught Bangladesh off-guard. Temba Bavuma, playing just his second ODI after scoring a ton in his maiden game more than a year ago, was looking positive right from the word go alongside Quinton de Kock. He started off the match with a boundary and ensured his strike rate was over 100 throughout his stay as the openers put on 119 for the first wicket. Playing one shot too many, he was finally dismissed by Mehidy Hasan, who also immediately accounted for de Kock's wicket.

Despite the double breakthrough, South Africa recovered quickly as Aiden Markram looked very comfortable out in the middle, batting alongside his skipper Faf du Plessis. Markram's first boundary in the format was a six off Mehidy over long on. Du Plessis then got going after using the sweep to good effect against Mahmudullah to help himself to a four and a six in the 26th over.

Markram went past a fifty soon after du Plessis reached his own personal landmark and at that stage, with 15 overs to go, South Africa would have easily eyed a total above 380. With both batsmen cruising out in the middle having stitched a 150-run partnership, Bangladesh found some luck with du Plessis walking back to the pavilion retired hurt after