Times Media
TELFORD VICE, Cape Town
TO AB de Villiers went the glory of the fastest century yet scored in one-day internationals. To Hashim Amla and Rilee Rossouw went the glory of SA’s highest stand for the first wicket. To West Indies went the ingloriousness of defeat by 148 runs.
And to the Wanderers went the glory of hosting another outrageousness. SA’s most emphatic crowd have seen the 438 game and the 236 game, when the Windies chased down a world record target to beat SA in the second T20 on January 11.
On Sunday, in the second ODI, they added the 439 game to their mantlepiece. That’s how many runs SA put on the board - just four runs short of the world record - for the loss of only two wickets. The Windies’ reply was a comparatively measly 291/7, which means SA would clinch the series with victory in East London tomorrow.
For more than 38 overs, West Indies could do nothing about Amla and Rossouw plundering their limp attack with impunity. Somebody should have called 911 as SA’s openers dismissed short ball after wide delivery after another short ball after another wide delivery from their presence.
Amla got the party started by drilling the third ball of the match, bowled by Jerome Taylor, through the covers for four. Taylor returned to end the partnership at 38.3 overs, when Rossouw plopped a half-volley pitched on his off-stump into the hands of mid-off and raised his bat to acknowledge the appreciation for his 128, a maiden century after 11 ODI innings and a reward for a passing a stern test of temperament and technique. Amla went on to record a new career best, a monument to class and control that took him to 153 not out.
But, as opening batsmen, Amla and Rossouw tempered their fine play with deference. Such restrictions did not apply to De Villiers when he walked out to face already demoralised opponents and a couple of balls already pummelled into submission.
Still, De Villiers’ audacity shines out from even the barest telling of his feat: 149 off 44 balls with nine fours and 16 sixes.
“I’ve hit the ball better before, believe it or not,” De Villiers said. “But on this kind of wicket and on this field, if you’re in decent form and you swing hard and you get a bit of luck, you can do amazing things.”
Might the amazement last into next month when SA have another go at catching the one that has always got away?
“No team has ever won the World Cup not thinking they are the best. You’ve got to believe you are the best and I think we are close to that.”
Only six times in those first 38 overs did Amla and Rossouw add 10 or more runs to the total, and never more than 13. In the 12 overs in which De Villiers was at the crease, SA reached double figures 11 times and topped 20 four times.
De Villiers made his intentions clear immediately by nailing the first ball bowled to him - by Taylor - down the ground for four. He took two, one and one off the next three deliveries he faced before unleashing a flurry of four, six, four, six and six on the heads of Andre Russell and Taylor.
Then Jason Holder travelled for six, six, six and four. The next over of Holder’s he faced, just for fun De Villiers reversed the sequence: four, six, six and six.
But the biggest over of the innings was yet to come. It was the 49th, bowled by Dwayne Smith. To start with, De Villiers went over midwicket, twice, with mighty heaves for six. Then he downgraded to a four, a yorker extracted and tickled to fine leg. Then another six flew over square leg. Then still another half-dozen were hammered over long-off. To finish, a slap to midwicket for two and a total of 30 runs.
All the Windies could do to mount a competitive reply was hope Chris Gayle came off. But, in the fifth over, he tried to put Morne Morkel way over midwicket and fell to a smart catch by Farhaan Behardien.
And that was that; contest over. Another 45.1 overs and futile half-centuries by Smith and Denesh Ramdin later, the game also ended.
Second ODI by the numbers:
16 - balls AB de Villiers took to score his half-century, a world record
31 - balls AB de Villiers took to score his century, a world record
16 - sixes De Villiers hit, equalling the world record
338.63 - De Villiers’ strike rate, a world record in innings of 100 or more
17.2 - runrate in the stand of 192 between De Villiers and Hashim Amla, a world record against a test-playing team
95 - runs Jerome Taylor conceded, the most by a West Indian bowler
247 - partnership shared by Hashim Amla and Rilee Rossouw, a record for SA’s first wicket
3 - number of centuries scored in SA’s innings, a world record
439/2 - SA’s highest total in ODIs and the second-highest overall
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