World Cup 2023: South Africa crush defending champions England by 229 runs

South Africa crushed defending champions England by 229 runs to hand them their biggest defeat in the history of ODI World Cups. After posting a 400-run target, the Proteas bowled out England for 170 runs at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

This was the 14th biggest margin of defeat in the history of ODI World Cups and the biggest for England. Their previous biggest loss in the marquee tournament came against India in the 1975 World Cup, when they lost by 202 runs at Lord's.

Jos Buttler won the toss for England and chose to field first. They started off in brilliant fashion with Reece Topley sending the dangerous Quinton de Kock back on the second delivery of the match. However, Rassie van der Dussen and



Reeza Hendricks, who came in as a replacement for skipper Temba Bavuma, formed a massive 121-run stand for the second wicket.

The partnership saw both batters score half-centuries, with Van der Dussen scoring a 61-ball 60 and Hendricks chipping in with 85 runs off 75 deliveries. Spinner Adil Rashid was the one who broke their partnership in the 20th over, getting rid of Van der Dussen before sending Hendricks back to the pavilion in the 26th over.

Aiden Markram got off to a solid start but couldn’t convert it into a big innings, falling at the hands of Topley after scoring 42 runs off 44 balls. Topley came back to claim his third wicket of the day, dismissing the hard-hitting David Miller in the 37th over.