De Villiers powers South Africa to easy win over Windies

A B de Villiers

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – A B de Villiers’ unbeaten  107 powered South Africa to a seven-wicket victory over West  Indies in a World Cup Group B match today.
South Africa’s Pakistan-born leg-spinner Imran Tahir (4-41)  dazzled on debut, sharing seven wickets with pace colleague Dale  Steyn (3-24) to skittle out West Indies for 222 in 47.3 overs.
The West Indies total was built around Darren Bravo’s  assured 73 and a quick-fire 40 off 37 balls by his half-brother  Dwayne before the twice champions lost their last five wickets  for just 13 runs.

A B de Villiers
A B de Villiers

South Africa lost opener Hashim Amla in the fourth over and  batting mainstay Jacques Kallis in the fifth but de Villiers  added 119 runs with skipper Graeme Smith (45) and got good  support from JP Duminy (42 not out) down the order to overwhelm  the target in 42.5 overs.
South Africa went into the match with a three-pronged spin  attack and after winning the toss, Smith wasted precious little  time in unleashing one of them, Johan Botha, in a move that is  getting increasingly popular in the tournament.

Imran Tahir
Imran Tahir

Botha began with a bang, inducing an edge from danger man  Chris Gayle’s tentative blade with his third delivery that flew  to Kallis in the lone slip.
Darren Bravo and Devon Smith denied them another chance to  celebrate until the 24th over.
Darren Bravo welcomed Kallis with a couple of boundaries in  his first over and went on to hit six more to go with the six  off Tahir before Botha trapped him lbw.
From 113-1, West Indies suddenly slumped to 120-4 with Tahir  claiming Ramnaresh Sarwan and Devon Smith.
Dwayne Bravo continued to enhance the family reputation,  taking the onus on himself to score at a brisk rate, hitting  three sixes in his enterprising 37-ball knock that came to an  end after an almighty mix-up with Shivnarine Chanderpaul (31).
West Indies could not make the most of the foundation and  collapsed in a heap to fall well short of the 250-mark.

Scoreboard

West Indies innings

C. Gayle c Kallis b Botha                2

D. Smith c & b Tahir                    36

Darren Bravo lbw b Botha                73

R. Sarwan lbw b Tahir                    2

S. Chanderpaul c Peterson b Tahir       31

Dwayne Bravo run out                    40

D. Thomas c Duminy b Tahir              15

K. Pollard lbw b Steyn                   0

D. Sammy lbw b Steyn                     0

S. Benn c Morkel b Steyn                 6

K. Roach not out                         2

Extras: (b-1 lb-3 w-11)                 15

Total: (all out, 47.3 overs)           222
Fall of wickets: 1-2 2-113 3-117 4-120 5-178 6-209 7-213  8-213 9-213 10-222
Bowling: Botha 9-0-48-2 (3w), Steyn 7.3-1-24-3 (2w), Morkel  8-0-35-0 (2w), Kallis 3-0-21-0, Tahir 10-1-41-4, Peterson  10-0-49-0

South Africa innings

H. Amla c Thomas b Roach                14

G. Smith b Pollard                      45

J. Kallis c Sammy b Benn                 4

AB de Villiers not out                 107

JP Duminy not out                       42

Extras: (lb-10 nb-1)                    11

Total: (for three wickets, 42.5 overs) 223
Did not bat: F. du Plessis, J. Botha, R. Peterson, M.  Morkel, D. Steyn, Imran Tahir.
Fall of wickets: 1-15 2-20 3-139
Bowling: Benn 10-0-51-1, Roach 8-0-42-1, Dwayne Bravo  2.1-0-12-0, Sammy 8-0-40-0, Pollard 7.5-0-37-1 (1nb), Gayle  6-0-26-0, Smith 0.5-0-5-0
Result: South Africa won by seven wickets.
South Africa won the toss and elected to field.