Amla’a ton seals easy win for South African
by CricketArchive Staff Reporter


Ground:Windsor Park, Roseau
Scorecard:West Indies v South Africa
Player:DM Richards, S Chanderpaul, HM Amla
Event:South Africa in West Indies 2010

DateLine: 30th May 2010

 

Hashim Amla once again became the tormentor for West Indies as his second century (129) of the series negated an excellent batting performance by the host that saw the visitors cruise to a six wicket win in the fourth one-day international here on Sunday.

 

West Indies came up with their best batting performance in the recent memory to score 303 for six in 50 overs. Though none of the batsmen made a century there were notable contributions from Chanderpaul, who finally found form with the bat, Richards and. Bravo who all made half-centuries. The younger Bravo’s late flourish gave the innings the impetus and West Indies crossed 300 for the first time in the series. But Amla played a pristine knock and was ably supported by Kallis and De Villiers with half-centuries. The win was achieved in the last over but South Africans shouldn’t have taken that long to seal it. After Amla’s dismissal, Duminy who was under pressure to perform and De Villiers, took time to settle but South Africans had the batting power-play at their disposal and took it after the 45th over when they need 46 to win. West Indies which showed keen intensity on the field wilted and Pollard’s ninth over and the 48th of the South African innings turned the contest in favour of the visitors.

 

Duminy was dropped early by Darren Bravo but De Villiers struck two boundaries to steal 18 runs which included three wides when Pollard strayed down the leg side. There was much theatrics in Bravo’s last over from which the South Africans needed three runs. To his credit the Bravo managed to keep the contest alive till the last ball but couldn’t stop the inevitable as De Villiers scored the winning run pushing the ball to Sammy who fumbled with the take and missed another run-out chance.

 

The key to South African chase was not the boundary hits but the singles. Hashim Amla struck just nine boundaries in his knock but worked the ball around to score majority of his runs. De Villiers struck three but two came at a crucial time when his team needed boundaries. West Indies allowed them easy runs and was inept on the field when they failed to grab the chances that came their way. Bravo brothers reprieved Duminy twice and the visitors were short of ammunition on this flat wicket and they missed Roach and Jerome Taylor who were out injured. Gayle obviously was disappointed and minced no words at the presentation ceremony.