Proteas captain deflects praise as West Indies ‘take the positives’
South Africa captain AB de Villiers was modest about his heroics as he scored the fastest 150 in one-day international history to help guide his side to a 257-run victory over the West Indies in Sydney.
De Villiers’s 162, which came off only 66 balls, helped his side score 408 for five, the second-highest total recorded at a World Cup, and they equalled the biggest winning margin in the tournament’s history, too, as spinner Imran Tahir took five for 45 to bowl the West Indies out for 151 in reply.
It was an impressive reaction from the Proteas after they had lost to India by 130 runs last week.
“As a team it was a very important win for us tonight,” De Villiers said. “It was important for us to step up after the loss to India in Melbourne and show what we’re all about as a cricket team.
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“After Melbourne we had a few meetings, a few good training sessions and got the boys nice and inspired for today.”
De Villiers smashed eight sixes, four of which came in the last over, and 17 boundaries as he took apart the West Indies attack.
But he credited Hashim Amla (65), Faf du Plessis (62) and Rilee Rossouw (61) for their knocks, for setting up the environment in which he could attack the opposition bowling.
De Villiers had come to the crease at 146 for three with 29.4 overs gone.
The Proteas would score 262 more runs in the remaining 20.2 overs.
“I think the credit must go to the guys up front for setting a base,” De Villiers said. “Rilee inspired me and that affected how I played.”
To further chasten the West Indies, De Villiers acknowledged his build-up to the game had been less than ideal.
“I had some stomach problems last night,” he said.
“I didn’t eat much and had a very rough night.
“But the doctor gave me an injection and I was on my way.”
For the West Indies, the defeat was a crushing blow, coming just three days after Chris Gayle became the first man to make a World Cup double century in the win against Zimbabwe.
Jason Holder, the West Indies captain, conceded 104 runs off his 10 overs but top scored with the bat with 56.
“I thought we did well early in the game with the ball and keeping the run-rate down, but then it got away from us,” Holder said.
“If you take away De Villiers innings it is a totally different score.
“But we dropped chances and psychologically chasing 400 is a huge task.
“We have some areas we need to improve on.
“Going forward we need to take the positives and try to go in with full confidence.”
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