South Africa trounce woeful Australia at World Cup

Australia suffered their heaviest World Cup defeat as they were trounced by South Africa in Lucknow.

It means they have lost their opening two games and four consecutive World Cup matches for the first time.

South Africa posted 311-7, with Quinton de Kock hitting 109 for his second century of the tournament.

He joins compatriot AB de Villiers as the only batter to start a Men's World Cup with consecutive hundreds.

Australia's next game is against Sri Lanka on Monday, while South Africa play the Netherlands on Tuesday.

Friday's World Cup action sees New Zealand, who have won their first two games, face Bangladesh in Chennai.

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Confusion reigns but South Africa impress with ball

Australia went into their innings with some momentum after Mitchell Starc finished with a double-wicket maiden, but it was soon lost.

It was a turgid start from Mitchell Marsh and David Warner, with both struggling for any fluency.

Marsh was the first to go, miscuing Marco Jansen to mid-off, before Warner flashed Lungi Ngidi, who bowled with excellent control up front, to point.

There was confusion when Steve Smith was given out lbw on review despite the front-on replay suggesting the ball may have gone on to miss leg stump.

The technology initially just showed the end result of the HawkEye process, leading to bewilderment from Smith and his partner Marnus Labuschagne, before it was later replayed in full to show its accuracy.

Josh Inglis and Glenn Maxwell soon followed Smith, before Marcus Stoinis was dismissed in controversial fashion.

Third umpire Richard Kettleborough deemed the right-hander had gloved Kagiso Rabada down the leg side, but the replays suggested Stoinis' hand was off the bat when the ball grazed that glove.

Kettleborough's explanation was that both gloves were touching, but that also did not appear to be the case on the pictures shown.

Marnus Labuschagne made 46, and showed some resistance in a stand of 69 with Starc, but the margin of defeat overtakes their 118-run loss against India in 1983.

It leaves Australia's campaign in trouble. This is the second World Cup to follow this format and the final qualification spot in 2019 was taken by New Zealand on 11 points.

Bad weather played a part in that campaign, but is unlikely to this time, meaning sides may need 12 points to qualify for the semi-finals. Australia would need to win six of their remaining seven games to reach that mark.

More to follow.