Amla, De Villiers set up big South African win
by CricketArchive staff reporter
DateLine: 23rd May 2010
Hundreds from Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers set up South Africa’s
comprehensive 65-run win over West Indies in the first one-day
international at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium here on Saturday.
Amla, returning to top notch international competition after missing
the T20 World Cup, struck his second century in one-day international
that paved way for a par South African total on a sluggish pitch.
AB de Villiers made a timely return to form with a superbly paced innings to
shut out whatever little hopes the hosts had in restricting the
visitors to a meager total.
Batting first South Africa made 280 for seven in 48 overs and later
with disciplined bowling choked the West Indies which was dismissed
for 215 runs.
The sparse crowd at the stadium had little to cheer when South
Africans started like a runaway train. But Bravo brought smiles back
when he took two wickets in two overs to push back the South Africans.
After a rollicking start Smith was surprised by the bounce which Bravo
extracted and edged a catch to wicketkeeper while Jacques Kallis upper
cut a widish short ball to be caught at third man.
But Amla, who outscored smith in the powerplay, and de Villiers
eschewed risks and worked the ball around. The duo punished the odd
bad deliveries to keep the scoreboard moving. While Bravo was
parsimonious, West Indies’ assortment of part-timers leaked runs and
Gayle allowed things to drift in the middle overs. Amala and de
Villiers added 129 runs for the third wicket and Amla left soon after
completing his ton. But there was slump in scoring after the dismissal
of Amla as J.P.Duminy struggled.
AB de Villiers held the innings together and it needed a little cameo
from Miller to give impetus to the South African innings in the end.
Fletcher looked like a cat on hot tin roof as Steyn bowled with
hostility. The young man courted yet another failure edging Steyn to
wicketkeeper and things would have been worse for West Indies had
Miller caught Gayle off Steyn. But Bravo struck a few lusty blows to
wrest the momentum in the powerplay. But Bravo couldn’t sustain his
aggression for too long and fell for 15 and pressure was again on
Gayle to deliver. The Windies skipper survived another drop, this
time off McLaren to strike eight boundaries, in his inimitable style
to peg back the run-rate. But his luck finally ran out as he top-edged
a swipe to be caught by Botha at midwicket off Morkel.
The disciplined South African attack kept Sarwan and Deonarine quiet
in the middle overs and their quick dismissals put too much pressure
on the lower order. Windies skipper missed a trick by not promoting
Pollard when the run-rate mounted. By the time Pollard made his entry
the host needed to score at eight runs per over. Pollard played a
cameo but didn’t get enough support from other batsman and Windies
fell way short of the target.
