De Villiers now holds the record for the fastest ODI century in history
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
South Africa captain AB de Villiers broke the record for the fastest ODI century to help his side annihilate the West Indies by 148 runs.
De Villiers was well supported by openers Hashim Amla and Rilee Rossouw as they both made career-best scores.
However, West Indies opener Dwayne Smith and wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin deserve some credit as they scored 64 and 57 respectively.
West Indies captain Jason Holder would have wished he never opted to bowl first after Amla and Rossouw amassed a 247-run partnership, during which Amla brought up his 18th ODI century and Rossouw his first, before Rossouw was caught by Sulieman Benn at mid-off off the bowling of Jerome Taylor.
Rossouw’s career-best knock of 128 came off 115 balls and included 11 boundaries and two sixes.
Rossouw celebrates after scoring his maiden ODI century
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
Amla and de Villiers kept the runs flowing with a 192-run partnership, during which Amla surpassed the 150-run mark and de Villiers registered his 19th ODI century, before he was caught by Jonathan Carter at deep cover off the bowling of Andre Russell.
De Villiers’ record-breaking innings of 149 came off just 44 deliveries and included nine boundaries and 16 sixes.
During his highly entertaining knock, de Villiers broke New Zealand all-rounder Corey Anderson’s record for the fastest ODI century as it only took him 31 balls to bring up his hundred.
Amla ended up scoring a career-best 153 off 142 balls, which included 14 boundaries as South Africa finished on 439/2 off their 50 overs, which is the highest total they have made in ODI history.
Amla struck 14 boundaries during his career-best knock of 153
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
Benn and Russell picked up one wicket apiece.
Chasing a near impossible target of 440 to win, the West Indies got off to a horrible start as opening batsman Chris Gayle was caught by Farhaan Behardien at deep midwicket off the bowling of Morne Morkel for 19.
Leon Johnson only made one run before he was given out lbw off the bowling of Vernon Philander.
Johnson decided to review the decision, but replays showed that the ball was pitching in line and going on to hit middle and leg stump. This led to the third umpire upholding the original decision.
Smith and Marlon Samuels stabilised the innings with a 59-run partnership, during which Smith recorded his half-century, before he was caught by Jean Paul (JP) Duminy at long-off of the bowling of Behardien.
Smith’s gutsy knock of 64 came off 65 balls and included nine boundaries and a six.
Samuels went on to score 40 runs before he was caught by Behardien at extra cover off the bowling of Philander.
Carter and Ramdin steadied the innings with an 83-run partnership before Carter was caught by Wayne Parnell, who was the substitute fielder, at mid-on off the bowling of Dale Steyn for 40.
Russell failed to trouble the scorers as he was caught by Faf du Plessis at deep midwicket off the bowling of Imran Tahir for a golden duck.
Ramdin went on to score 57 off 55 deliveries, which included four boundaries and a six, before he was caught by du Plessis at deep square leg off the bowling of Morkel.
Despite a last-gasp 38-run partnership between Holder and Darren Sammy, the West Indies still ended up falling 148 runs short of their target.
Morkel and Philander snapped up two wickets apiece, while Steyn, Tahir and Behardien claimed one wicket each.
Holder was embarrassed by his side’s performance, and said: “Tough game, AB took it away from us. We weren’t doing too badly in the middle overs but he took it away from us. I thought we could have nailed our yorkers better. A lot of the seniors guys have helped me out these two games and we can move forward. It was commendable the way Sulieman bowled today, hats off to him. Credit to the two guys who did well with the bat, that’s something to work with. We just need to put this behind us.”
De Villiers, who was named Man of the Match, lauded the entire team for their fantastic effort, and said: “Lots of credit to Rilee and Hash up front, it allowed myself to free up. It was always going to be a lot of aggressive batting around Hash. He’s a world class batsman, he’s making it look easy and taking the pressure off us. I had a lot of time to warm up in the changing room, thinking about how I was playing. I actually wanted David Miller to go in but Russell [Domingo] made a great call, he told me to go in. I played my knock even before I came out to bat, I really wanted to go today. I was on 92 when I knew the record was close and I wasn’t going to take singles!”