De Villiers’s batting is dominant cricket memory of 2015
The Proteas have had their ups and downs in 2015 but for one man, AB De Villiers, there were some explosive and special moments as he continued to show the batting skills that make him one of the best batsmen in the world.
It all started back on January 18 in one of the most astonishing displays of hitting ever seen as he broke the record for the fastest ever ODI hundred – and then just a month later against the West Indies again he smashed the fastest ever World Cup 150.
De Villiers took five balls fewer than Corey Anderson’s ODI hundred for New Zealand against West Indies in Queenstown in January last year.
That the ball sails a long way in Johannesburg due to the altitude is well known. That the pitch offers even bounce and good pace for the batsmen to play their strokes, particularly in One-Day Internationals, is a given.
But the kind of dominance displayed by De Villiers and Hashim Amla on January 18 was the kind one rarely sees in the international game.
Amla, too, fed off the De Villiers magic and recorded his highest ODI score, an unbeaten 153. De Villiers smashed the fastest ODI ton off just 31 balls as South Africa registered a 148-run victory over West Indies at the Wanderers to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
De Villiers strolled out to bat at No 3 after the openers – Amla and Rilee Rossouw – put on a mammoth 247 for the first wicket. Rossouw blazed his way to a 115-ball 128, his first international century, to set the foundation for a late onslaught. With just 11.3 overs left, De Villiers had the authority and freedom to express himself right from the outset.
He did so in majestic fashion, hitting nine fours and equalling Rohit Sharma’s record of 16 sixes, the most in an ODI innings. He finally perished for 149 in the final over to Andre Russell. Amla also chipped in with an unbeaten 153 as South Africa posted 439/2 after they was sent in to bat.
In reply, none of the West Indies batsmen could get off the blocks quickly as South Africa’s target seemed a distant dream.
De Villiers went to 50 off just 16 balls, one fewer than Sanath Jayasuriya’s previous record for the fastest 50 for Sri Lanka against Pakistan in 1996 in Singapore. He then powered his way past Corey Anderson’s record for the fastest ton.
The ferocity of the knock was such that Gayle, who played a match-winning Twenty20 International innings at the same venue last week, bowed in salute as De Villiers went past him.
De Villiers had a ripple effect on Amla, who played some eye-catching strokes soon after getting to his 18th ODI century as Jerome Taylor, easily the quickest of the West Indies bowlers, was in for special punishment as both batsmen used his pace superbly to send the ball soaring over the ropes with regularity.
Between them, Taylor and Jason Holder, the West Indies captain, conceded 186 off their 20 overs. However, Sulieman Benn, the left-arm spinner, finished with figures of 1/49 off his 10 overs. But that wasn’t enough to stop a marauding De Villiers who kept the West Indies bowlers, scorers, statisticians and spectators on their toes.
Along the way, South Africa went past their own previous highest total – the 438/9 they scored in that famous Wanderers record chase against Australia in March 2006.
After his amazing innings in January, De Villiers scored the fastest 150 in history, once again against the West Indies, during South Africa’s World Cup encounter at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
He got to the milestone in 64 deliveries, breaking the previous record of an 83-ball 150 by Shane Watson against Bangladesh in 2011.
After the match, De Villiers summed up the 257-run win – to equal the largest winning margin in World Cup history – by simply saying, “It was our day today, the bounce of the ball went our way and my way and I’m sure the West Indies will bounce back.”
Seemingly breaking records with every ball towards the end of his innings, De Villiers, who remained unbeaten on 162 off 66 balls, displayed the mix of conventional, unorthodox and simply unbelievable shots he has become famous for, lofting eight sixes and smashing 17 fours.
And all this from a man who battled an energy-sapping sickness in the previous 24 hours, and was clearly far from 100 per cent when he took his place in the middle.
Little doubt then, that despite the problems De Villiers and most other Proteas experienced on the recent ill-fated Indian tour, it was the year of AB. And with the Boxing Day Test starting on Saturday at Kingsmead in Durban, local fans will be hoping that magical batting form will return in its full glory. - ANA
(File photo: Gallo Images)