October 05 Saturday 2002
Gibbs and Ntini blast Bangladesh to defeat 

POTCHEFSTROOM: Herschelle Gibbs hit his third successive century and Makhaya Ntini destroyed the Bangladesh top order batting as South Africa thrashed the tourists by 168 runs in the first of three one-day tests at the North West Stadium here on Thursday. 

Gibbs made a career-best 153 as South Africa piled up an imposing 301 for eight in their 50 overs. 

Ntini took three wickets in his first five overs as Bangladesh crashed to 43 for six in reply before they made a partial recovery to finish with 133. 

It was Bangladesh's 21st successive defeat, only one short of their own world all-time worst streak. 

The one-sided match confirmed fears that the first encounter between the two countries would be a mismatch, with Bangladesh's batsmen unable to cope against South Africa's fast bowling on a pitch with reasonable bounce. 

For Gibbs and the South African batsmen, however, it was a perfect batting pitch and they took a heavy toll on Bangladesh's mix of medium-pace and spin. Gibbs was never in trouble after South African captain Shaun Pollock won the toss. 

Pollock warned there would be no let-up. 

"We've got to set our own standards. We've got to dominate and we have to be ruthless." 

Opening batsman Gibbs, 28, became the third player in one-day international history to hit three successive centuries. He made 116 against Kenya and 116 against India in the recent Champions Trophy tournament in Sri Lanka. 

He was forced to retire hurt with dehydration and cramp against India in what proved a turning point after he had seemingly set up South Africa for a semi-final victory. India went on to win by 10 runs. 

The only other players to have hit three successive one-day international hundreds were Zaheer Abbas and Saeed Anwar, both of Pakistan. Abbas made his hundreds against India in 1982/83 and Anwar against Sri Lanka,West Indies and Sri Lanka in 1993/94. 

It took Gibbs 11 balls to score his first run and South Africa scored only eight runs in the first five overs. But he took two boundaries off Tapash Baisya in the sixth over before proceeding to dominate the bowling, reaching his fifty off 49 balls with nine fours and his tenth one-day international century off 96 deliveries with 15 fours.

He went on to pass his previous highest score of 125, which he had made against West Indies in 1998/99 and against Zimbabwe last season, although he was missed on the boundary by Hannan Sarkar off Khaled Mahmud when he had 118. He was caught at deep backward square leg after facing 130 balls. He hit three sixes and 17 fours.

Ntini had Hannan Sarkar caught at second slip in the fourth over and Bangladesh never seemed to have any ambitions of chasing victory. Ntini, Pollock and Allan Donald bowled with up to four slips and a gully as they kept the pressure on the batsmen. 

Skipper Khaled Mashud (34 not out) and Tapash Baisya (24) put on a record 60 for the eighth wicket to save Bangladesh from total humiliation.