WC 2015 SA vs WI: AB de Villiers, Tahir lead charge as South Africa thump West Indies
Sydney: AB de Villiers' brilliant unbeaten 162 from just 66 balls and Imran Tahir's five-wicket haul drove South Africa to a 257-run win over West Indies in their World Cup Pool B clash on Friday.
Here is how the action unfolded.
Powered by AB de Villiers' breathtaking 166, South Africa scored 408 runs in 50 overs.
Needing 409 runs to win, West Indies hoped for a Gayle show. But the left-hander could only score 3 and was dismissed Kyle Abbott. The right-arm pacer struck again to send Marlon Samuels, who scored a ton against Zimbabwe, packing.
(Photo: AP)
West Indies continued to stumble further as Morne Morkel got Carter out. imran Tahir was next to strike after the leg-spinner ended Dwayne Smith's stay in the middle to give South Africa their fourth wicket. Tahir was quick to add one more wicket to his account when he caught Simmons plumb in front.
Tahir continued to run riot as he scalped two more wickets in one over, dismantling the West Indies batting and taking South Africa inches closer to a huge victory.
(Photo: AP)
While Jason Holder scored a fifty, his fifty was never enough to resurrect West Indies' inning. South Africa eventually ended West Indies innings for 151, sealing a huge 257-run win.
Earlier, the Proteas skipper utilised his full repertoire of strokes in an awesome display of batting, peppering the boundaries at a sun-bathed Sydney Cricket Ground with eight sixes and 17 fours in a 104-minute innings that will live long in the memory.
He shared stands of 134 runs with Rilee Rossouw (61), another of 48 with David Miller (20) and a third of 80 with Farhaan Behardien (10) to turn around his country's innings after West Indies had made a promising start to the match.
Read: Team India still rule the highest total chart
By the end of his knock, the crowd were on their feet chanting "AB!, AB!, AB!" as the 31-year-old, who reached his century with a six from the 52nd ball he faced, accelerated towards the finishing line.
His 64-ball 150 is also the fastest in one-day international history.
South Africa were desperate to kickstart their campaign after their 130-run defeat to India and De Villiers had given them every chance of doing so by the time he walked of the field.
West Indies, charged with confidence after their defeat of Zimbabwe on Tuesday, had initially looked a completely different side to the rabble that lost their tournament opener to Ireland.
Skipper Jason Holder and to a lesser extent Jerome Taylor got menacing bounce off the wicket with the new ball and opener Quinton de Kock (12) departed in the sixth over.
(Photo: AP)
Hashim Amla (65) and Faf du Plessis (62) then put together a second wicket partnership of 127 but the disciplined West Indies kept up the pressure.
Amla smashed a huge six to bring up his half century off 75 balls, though, and Du Plessis almost matched the feat for his fifty only for the ball to fall just short of the boundary rope.
West Indies desperately needed a breakthrough and it fell to Chris Gayle, whose innings of 215 fired the Zimbabwe victory, to provide it in the 30th over.
Du Plessis was brilliantly caught behind by Denesh Ramdin off an edge and two balls later Amla was trapped lbw, Gayle celebrating reducing the South Africans to 146-3 with a dance down the wicket.
(Photo: AP)
That brought Rossouw and De Villiers to the middle and they wasted no time in taking the game to their opponents, rattling up a fifty partnership in just over half an hour from 39 balls.
Rossouw, brought into the side in place of JP Duminy, also brought up his half century with a flourish, slapping a rising delivery into the grandstand for a six.
SA @amlahash @QuinnyDeKock69 @faf1307 @Rileerr @ABdeVilliers17 @DavidMillerSA12 @fudgie11 @DaleSteyn62 @Kyle_Abbott87 @mornemorkel65 #Tahir
— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) February 27, 2015West Indies were able to recall Sulieman Benn in place of Nikita Miller after the tall spinner recovered from a back problem.
#SAvWI Windies XI: D Smith, C Gayle, M Samuels, D Ramdin+, L Simmons, J Carter, D Sammy, A Russell, J Holder*, J Taylor, S Benn.
— westindies (@westindies) February 27, 2015De Villiers took one fewer delivery than Roussow to reach his fifty in 30 balls but reached the milestone in more punishing style with a six, a four and another four in successive deliveries off Sulieman Benn.
It was only a taster of what was to come.
