South Africa’s Steve Stolk demolishes Rishabh Pant’s long-standing U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup record

South Africa’s opening batter Steve Stolk hammered a 13-ball fifty in the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup against Scotland on Saturday, January 27, to shatter Rishabh Pant’s seven-year-old record.

Stolk became the player to score the fastest half-century in the history of the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup as he eased past Pant, who had smashed an 18-ball fifty against Nepal at the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2016 in Bangladesh.

Stolk’s feat came in a Group B fixture of the ongoing U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup while playing at the Senwes Park in Potchefstroom.

Chasing 270 to win, South Africa raced to the total in just 27 overs as Dewan Marais and David Teeger capitalised after Stolk provided a whirlwind start to the hosts.

Stolk began the proceedings with a boundary against Qasim Khan on the second delivery of the run chase and biffed two more to aggregate 12 runs off six balls.

He faced a solitary ball in the next over and caressed it for another boundary as his batting partner Lhuan-de Pretorius played the majority of the over.

The right-handed Stolk unleashed beast mode in the third over as Qasim was seen ducking for cover. Stolk hit four consecutive sixes off Qasim and finished the over with a four and yet another six to script history and announce himself on the world stage.

He ultimately ended up scoring 86 off 37 balls, including seven fours and eight sixes at a jaw-dropping strike rate of 232.43.

The Pretoria batter got out in the 11th over with the Proteas needing 136 more to get over the line. However, his dismissal brought little reprieve to the Scottish bowlers as Dewan Marais and David Teeger (43* off 38 balls) got into the act to pile on the pain.

Marais played a spectacular innings of 80* off 50 deliveries with the help of eight fours and three sixes and racked up his runs at a stunning strike rate of 160.00.