De Villiers was named Man of the Match for his magnificent knock of 81
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South Africa captain AB de Villiers, opener Hashim Amla and batsman David Miller all scored half-centuries as the Proteas crushed the West Indies by 61 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis method in the first ODI in Durban.
De Villiers would have been brooding over his decision to bat first after opening batsman Rilee Rossouw was clean bowled by Jerome Taylor for a duck.
Faf du Plessis failed to trouble the scorers as well as he was given out lbw off the bowling of Taylor.
Amla and de Villiers stabilised the innings with a 99-run partnership, during which Amla brought up his half-century, before he was run out by Andre Russell for 66 off 66 balls, which included 10 boundaries.
Amla became the fastest batsman to score 5,000 ODI runs
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De Villiers and Miller kept the runs flowing with a 123-run partnership, during which both batsmen registered their half-centuries, before Miller was caught by Dwayne Smith at deep point off the bowling of West Indies skipper Jason Holder.
Miller’s excellent knock of 70 came off 68 balls and included seven boundaries and two sixes.
Milller smashed seven boundaries and two sixes during his innings of 70
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De Villiers went on to score 81 off 94 deliveries, which included six boundaries, before he was caught by Russell at long-on off the bowling of Sulieman Benn.
Following de Villiers’ dismissal, South Africa lost quick wickets and went from being 246/5 to 272/8.
Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel put together an unbeaten seven-run partnership before the heavens parted.
As a result of the rain, South Africa finished on 279/8 off 48.2 overs.
Russell and Taylor picked up two wickets apiece, while Benn and Holder chipped in with one wicket each.
Due to a long rain delay, the Duckworth-Lewis method came into effect and the West Indies were set a target of 226 to win from 32 overs.
The West Indies got off to a great start as Smith and Chris Gayle amassed a 51-run partnership before Gayle was caught behind off the bowling of Steyn for 41.
Gayle was the West Indies’ top-scorer with 41 runs
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Leon Johnson did not make any runs as he was given out lbw off the bowling of Vernon Philander for a duck.
Johnson was not given out initially, but South Africa decided to review the decision. Since replays showed that the ball was pitching in line and going on to hit middle stump, the third umpire overturned the original decision.
Marlon Samuels scored 12 runs before he was run out by Farhaan Behardien.
Smith ended up making 29 runs before he was given out lbw off the bowling of Imran Tahir.
Following Smith’s dismissal, the West Indies’ middle and lower order completely collapsed as they went from 89/4 to being bowled out for 164.
Philander, Steyn and Tahir claimed three wickets each.
Holder was disappointed with his team’s performance, and said: “We made a start but lost our way in the middle. That’s the nature of Chris, he’s a counter-attacking batsman, he gave us a decent start but SA got the better of us. It’s a problem we’ve been having for a period of time, we’ve got to try and correct it. [First captaincy taste] It’s been pretty good, a good challenge, we felt they were getting away from us but managed to fight back. We need to cut out the bad balls and to rotate the strike a bit better next time.”
De Villiers, who was named Man of the Match, was ecstatic to have taken a 1-0 lead, and said: “We did well after the first ten overs, it wasn’t easy, credit to Hash. I’m a bit embarrassed with the Man of the Match award, I thought David Miller played much better. But I’ve got to give myself some credit, it was good to get in and get some partnerships. [Miller] played like he was on a different wicket today, he was the best batter and played an exceptional knock. Morne van Wyk is an incredible player, we’d love to give him a go but he’s not in the World Cup squad so we want to give those guys a go, JP Duminy and Rilee Roussouw. I’ll take it on the chin and keep until Quinton [de Kock] can come back. Rilee will be the extra top-order batsman, so he’s getting some practice. Other than me taking the gloves, it’s pretty much our first team. Everyone bowled well in partnerships, never easy bowling to guys like Gayle, Samuels, Sammy. The guys were mature, showed some variation, Immy was the stand-out but everyone around him bowled exceptionally well. Always a great crowd at the Bullring, we love entertaining in Johannesburg. West Indies can beat anyone on their day, we’ll try and do the basics well for a long period of time and try to hit our straps.”