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Johannesburg - Dominic Hendricks carried his bat to his maiden international century with a superb unbeaten 107 in South Africa's thumping nine-wicket victory over New Zealand in the semifinal fifth place playoff of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup in Lincoln on Monday.
Hendricks continued to show his sheer brilliance and class at the 2010 edition of the tournament as he batted himself to the top of the logs, with a leading average of 109.33 after five innings'.
South Africa came back after a disappointing 146-run loss to Sri Lanka in their quarter-final match on Sunday with an emphatic all-round showing against the hosts. The top three batsmen made light work of the target of 251, with Josh Richards (67) and David White (72 not out) the other contributors.
Richards and Hendricks set up up the platform with a 124-run opening partnership before Hendricks teamed up with White, who was playing in his first match of the competition, with an unbeaten 128-run partnership to guide the Proteas to victory with 11 balls to spare.
Hendricks is the second leading run-scorer with 328 runs, behind Craigg Brathwaite from the West Indies on 335.
South Africa's bowlers, inspired by the new opening pair of Graham Hume and Sammy Mofokeng, put in a more convincing and disciplined performance.
Hume was back to his best with his tireless spell yielding two for 27 in 10 overs. New Zealand were dismissed for 250 in the 50th over, but not before Jimmy Neesham (64) and Corey Anderson (64) put on an exciting 119-run third-wicket stand off 122 balls.
Kirk Wernars broke the ominous looking partnership with the wicket of Anderson, which led to the wicket of Neesham three overs later. Wernars (three for 42) was the main wicket-taker with Mofokeng (two for 45) and Dale Deeb (two for 45) chipping in with solid spells.
South Africa will now face Asian giants India U-19 in the fifth and sixth place playoff on Wednesday in Christchurch. England and New Zealand will playoff for the seventh and eighth positions, after India U-19 beat England U-19 by seven wickets on Monday.
These teams fell out in the quarter-finals and are the bottom four teams in the Super Eight League.
Ironically, Australia U-19 and Pakistan U-19 are through to the semifinals and finals of the competition respectively, despite both losing to South Africa in the group and warm-up matches.
