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AB de Villiers has put on a masterclass at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, blasting his way to a scarcely believable 149 runs off 44 balls against a hapless West Indian attack.
The West Indies will be rueing their decision to field after winning the toss as the South Africa top three all made centuries – the first time this has been done in an ODI.
But it was De Villiers who made the biggest impact as he left the West Indies reeling and
records toppled.
It’s a fair list of achievements, too.
The fastest 50 in ODI history (16 balls – beating Sanath Jayasuriya’s effort against Pakistan), the fastest century in ODI history (31 balls -beating Corey Anderson’s record which is barely a year old), the equal most sixes in an ODI innings (16 – equalling Rohit Sharma who faced 158 balls to AB’s 44) and the first century with a strike rate of over 300 in ODI cricket.
He did, however, fall just short of Shane Watson’s fastest 150 record as Andre Russell claimed his wicket with two balls remaining.
South Africa also fell short of the highest ODI total – 443 by Sri Lanka against the Netherlands – but bettered their previous highest total – the famous 438 game against Australia – and posted the highest total at the Wanderers.
It took just 40 minutes from AB arriving at the crease for the barrage to cease. South Africa hit 163 off the last 10 overs, which included a strong final over from Andre Russell in which they only conceded three runs. Sulieman Benn’s figures look similarly amazing at 0-49 off his 10 overs when put in context.
It didn’t take the cricketing world long to sing the praises of an unbelievable knock, with David Warner signing off on Michael Vaughan’s claim that De Villiers was the number one player in world cricket across all formats.
@MichaelVaughan @ABdeVilliers17 FACT indeed haha by far he is!!
— David Warner (@davidwarner31) January 18, 2015
Just quietly, AB couldn’t be blamed for believing that either.
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