South Africa captain Faf du Plessis was “very relieved” after his side registered their first win at the Cricket World Cup, beating Afghanistan by nine wickets in Cardiff on Saturday.

Having failed to win any of their first four matches, the Proteas dismissed a winless Afghanistan for 125 after two rain delays cut the match to 48 overs.

Imran Tahir struck twice in his first over and took 4-29 as Afghanistan lost five for eight in 29 balls. Quinton de Kock made 68 as South Africa reached their revised target of 127 with 19.5 overs to spare.

“Very relieved. Feel a little bit lighter,” admitted Du Plessis.

“But I think in all our cricket today it was much better and much more competitive. We spoke a lot about energy in the field and stuff and I think you can really, really see a big difference today in the team.”