Making sense of South Africa's sixy start to the World Cup

Too much of a good thing, they say, has the opposite effect of just the right amount but try telling that to South Africa. With victory margins of 102, 134, 229 and 149 runs, it may read like they've scored far more runs than is required to beat opposition including defending champions England, but too many? What's that? This is the era of gluttony with more matches, more choices and more everything else but a team that has historically had batting as their weaker suit at World Cups was never going to go for less is more.

The top three totals at this World Cup belong to South Africa, including the only one over 400, which is also the highest tournament total ever. Six of the 19 hundreds scored so far come from South Africans. The leading run-scorer so far - Quinton de Kock - is South African and he also has the best individual score to date.

In his 150th ODI, de Kock slammed 174 - 14 short of the South African record still held by Gary Kirsten - and 26 shy of a double-ton, which batting coach JP Duminy confirmed is on de Kock's wishlist as something to achieve before he quits the format after this World Cup. That de Kock appears to have saved his best for last has been obvious since the Sri Lanka game in Delhi but to suggest he is simply throwing his bat in his last few innings and hoping for the best would be doing a disservice to a player in scintillating touch.

Watch carefully, and you will see a more discerning de Kock, who takes a little more time to settle in and then dictates the pace. At the Wankhede tonight, he manipulated the spinners' length early on, then eased down to 31 off 37 balls and then dominated partnerships with Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen. In terms of shot-selection, with de Kock, we've seen it all but his takedown of spinners in this game was special, specifically of Bangladesh's returning captain Shakib Al Hasan. De Kock faced 33 balls from Shakib, and scored 46 runs. In some books that's called cutting off the snake at the head, a metaphor that may be particularly relevant to Bangladesh given their relationship with the naagin dance. That reading of the situation and opposition is what South Africa are benefitting so well from, and what makes de Kock's contributions stand out.

"We all know Quinny to be a free-spirited guy he is but he has a really good cricket brain," Aiden Markram, South Africa's stand-in captain, said afterwards. "He assesses conditions well and communicates that to us even before we get out onto the field. You never want to clip his wings, you just want to let him fly."

In this innings, de Kock flew for all but 4.5 overs of South Africa's 50. In the games against Sri Lanka and Australia, he was dismissed in the 31st and 35th over respectively, but helped set South Africa up for the final 10 overs - the phase where they have been at their most dangerous.

Their batting at the death is a major contributor to why they are being considered among the best line-ups at this event and a quick glance at the numbers reveals why. South Africa scored 137 runs in the last 10 overs against Sri Lanka, 143 against England and 144 runs today. Against Australia, they scored 79 which doesn't sound as impressive but on a slow pitch was more than enough. All told, from the 40th over - and bear in mind South Africa's defeat to the Dutch was reduced to 43 overs a side - South Africa have a run rate of 12.28, which is more than one-and-a-half times their closest rivals, New Zealand at 8.16.

There's two reasons that they have been able to set off these kinds of fireworks: wickets in hand and six-hitting.

To the first point, and in consultation with ESPNcricinfo statistician Shiva Jayaraman: on average South Africa have found themselves with around 250 runs on the board and between three and four wickets down at the start of the 41st over - thanks largely to de Kock - while other teams have been in an average position of 216 for 5.

To the second: South Africa have hit 32 sixes in the last 10 overs of their five innings, while New Zealand and India have totalled only 10 more and three more than that overall, across their entire five innings. That's thanks mostly to Heinrich Klaasen, who followed up his 67-ball 109 against England with a 49-ball 90 against Bangladesh. Klaasen hit all four of his sixes in the last 10 overs against England and five of his eight in the last 10 against Bangladesh, and is the second-leading six-hitter of the tournament. As long as South Africa are able to give him a launchpad, he has shown he can almost guarantee he will take off.

All that becomes even more important when you consider that Klaasen is the fifth of just six specialist batters and that if things start going wrong before he comes in, South Africa will be in trouble. That remains an area yet to be fully exploited by opposition but on one of the occasions where it threatened to be an issue - against England - Marco Jansen played an innings which suggests he will make a solid No. 7.

So, all that said, have South Africa found their magic formula when it comes to batting first at big tournaments? They won't be quite so certain yet. "We haven't spoken about a blueprint as a unit. We've had no definitive roles given, but everyone knows what they need to do to help this batting unit peak at their best," Markram said. "There isn't necessarily a blueprint, but guys understand how to approach it. We have a big focus on playing conditions and not necessarily situations too much. As a unit, we keep saying to look down at the surface and not up at the scoreboard and play exactly what's in front of us on the pitch."

Duminy described it as "taking the positive option wherever possible", and in previous interactions with members of the South African camp they've spoken about a balance between smart and brave cricket. But those are all platitudes. The proof is on the scorecard and four out of South Africa's five at the World Cup are in their favour. The fifth was the game they lost to the Netherlands, in the only match in which they've chased at this tournament, and the jury is still out on how they will perform under pressure in a crunch encounter again.

There is also another caveat to be added to this analysis, which may otherwise read as though South Africa's line-up is untouchable. India, who have the second and third leading run-scorers in the tournament, have chased in all their games to date and so we don't know what they would and could do if given the opportunity to put runs on the board first.

Apologies if the ifs and what-ifs dampened the mood somewhat. That was not the intention of this story or, indeed, of South Africa's performance against Bangladesh. Both were a celebration of what too much of a good thing can do for this tournament and, in the absence of any close games, perhaps it's as much excitement as we're going to get for now.