The Castle Lager Proteas produced the ideal performance both with bat and ball to beat Ireland by 201 runs in their ICC World Cup Pool B match at Canberra on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The Proteas set a record for posting 400 runs totals in back-to-back matches and have now drawn level with India with five totals in excess of this milestone. They are also the second team after Australia to post 200-run wins in successive World Cup matches.<\/p>
The Proteas once again followed their blueprint of laying a solid foundation with Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis sharing a South African second-wicket record stand of 247, beating the previous mark of 207 set by Gary Kirsten and Neil McKenzie against Kenya in 2001.<\/p>\n
Both scored centuries \u2013 Amla getting his 20th and finishing with a career best 159 off 128 balls, 16 fours and 4 sixes and Du Plessis his fourth (109 off 109 balls, 10 fours and a six).<\/p>
As usual Amla reached the milestone of 20 centuries far quicker than anybody else in the history of the game.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the post-match presentation Amla said, \u201cFortunately, we got off to a good start. Myself and Faf just got something going and then we started playing a few shots.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had wickets in hand, so we kind of had the luxury to do that. We just thought that let’s have a go and see what happens and thankfully it came off.\u201d<\/p>\n
By far the most important statistic, however, was the fact that the Proteas scored more than 200 runs (230) for the second match in a row in the final 20 overs. Everybody has been talking about getting 100 in the final 10 but the Proteas have now taken this to a new level with 100 runs in each of the last 10 overs.<\/p>\n
Once again they constructed an excellent batting power play, following up their 72\/0 against the West Indies between overs 36 and 40 with 69\/1 against Ireland in the same grouping of overs.<\/p>\n
Equally impressive was the fact that they reached 400 with a negligible contribution from AB de Villiers although he and Amla shared a stand of 40 in 2.3 overs.<\/p>\n
Captain AB de Villiers said, \u201cIt was a good game today. I am very happy with the performance. The nice thing about the batting display today was especially the fact that we did it our way.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not following anyone else’s strategy. We followed our game plans and guys played exceptionally well upfront. It set it up nicely for the rest in the middle-order.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was left to Rilee Rossouw and David Miller to finish the innings in style with an unbroken partnership of 110 in 8.3 overs. Rossouw contributed 61 (30 balls, 6 fours and 3 sixes) and Miller 46 off 23 (4 fours and 2 sixes).<\/p>\n
The pace trio then virtually settled the game in the 10 overs statutory power play, taking 4 wickets between them, allowing De Villiers the luxury of experimenting with his part-time bowling options. He himself bowled two overs, Du Plessis 4 and Rossouw 2 and, together with Farhaan Behardien\u2019s 2, this amounted to the fifth bowler taking 1\/63 between them.<\/p>\n
This was the only stage at which the Irish batsmen were able to get into the game with Andy Ballbirnie and Kevin O\u2019Brien sharing a stand of 81 in 15.3 overs for the sixth wicket.<\/p>\n
Kyle Abbott, like Rossouw, continues to present an impelling case for a starting berth in a full-strength XI while Dale Steyn celebrated his 100th ODI in emphatic style. The more he bowls the better he will get and he is honing in nicely for the knock-out stage of the competition.<\/p>\n
The Proteas are in second place in Pool B behind India with a positive net run rate of almost 2.<\/p>\n
They now return to New Zealand for their next match against Pakistan at Auckland on Saturday (03h00 CAT)<\/p>\n