Just three days back, Zimbabwe faced the wrath of the Gayle Storm. Little did then West Indies know that they will also be at the receiving end in the very next match. But this was not something new for West Indies when they face South Africa. It was against West Indies in Johannesburg on January 18 this year that several records were rewritten. If West Indies thought all was over, then once again South Africa came up to complete some unfinished business.
If AB de Viliers scored the fastest 50 and 100 in ODIs on that day, he missed to set the fastest 150 record as he was dismissed on 149. Today he set that record as well completing his 150 in just 64 balls. The way de Villiers went about his batting, fastest century in world cup seemed to be under threat but he just missed it by 3 balls as it took 52 balls for him to score his century.
South Africa were coming from a humiliating defeat against India. Before the tournament started, they were one of the favourites to get the title. But their campaign did not hit the right note. They scraped through in their win against Zimbabwe and were defeated convincingly by India. More than to prove anyone else, they had to prove to themselves that they were also contender of the title. South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first. They had made three changes for this game, two of them were forced. Rilee Russouw came in place of injured JP Duminy, Kyle Abbot came in for injured Vernon Philander and Farhaan Behardien came in for Wayne Parnell. West Indies on the other hand made only one change. Nikita Miller made way for Suleiman Benn.
West Indies got the wicket of de Kock very early in the innings but then Hashim Amla and Faf du Plesis put together an important partnership for the 2nd wicket giving stability to the South African innings and provided the start that they needed, especially after their game against India, this was very important, especially considering that they were batting first. Their strategy was very clear, not to lose early wickets and lay a good foundation for others to come after. Both of them added 127 runs in 142 balls. But unfortunately for South Africa just when they thought that they had a good start, they lost both these set batsmen to Gayle in the same over. Amla had scored 65 and du Plesis had scored 62. South Africa were 146/3 in 29.4 overs.
It was a good start but South Africa had two new batsmen Rossouw and de Villiers at the crease. West Indies would have thought the they had pulled it back. But that was not the case. Rossouw started his innings as if he had been batting already for 30 overs. That helped de Villiers also to ease into his innings quickly and even he started matching Rossouw stroke to stroke. It seemed as if the two wickets that West Indies took, never happened. Such was the impact of their stroke play that together they added 72 runs in the batting powerplay and none of the balls were a dot ball. The way South Africa was batting, it looked as if a totally different team had taken the field compared to the one that took against India. West Indies tried to bring some sanity by dismissing Rossouw in the 43rd over. By then he had scored 61 off 39 balls. Both Rossouw and de Villiers had added 134 runs in 75 balls. South Africa were 280/4 in 42.1 overs with de Villiers still batting at 95 off 50 balls. With 8 overs left and de Villiers in the mood that he was, West Indies would have left the target to their wildest of the imagination.
What seemed to be an explosion so far turned out into a carnage in the last three overs and the victim was the captain of the West Indies team, 23 year old, Jason Holder. De Villiers was merciless. Holder who had conceded just 40 runs in 8 overs ended up with 104 runs in 10 overs, conceding 34 runs and 30 runs respectively in 48th and 50th over. His figures were the worst 10-over analysis in World Cups and fifth-worst overall. South Africa's score at the end of 50 overs was 408/5.
West Indies started their chase with a humdinger of a task. The statistics said that West Indies had never chased a 300+ target. This was 400+. The result of the match was a foregone conclusion. The only interest in the match was to see how West Indies responded to this pressure. Smith's six off Steyn's last ball of the first over suggested that West Indies had come with a resolve. But West Indies' chase received the jolt when they lost Chris Gayle to Kyle Abbott in the second over itself. Post that dismissal, West Indies were never in the chase losing wickets at regular intervals.
At one stage they were staring the worst possible margin of defeat when they were 63/7. It could have been even worse. In the west indies innings during powerplay, two catches were dropped and one run out was missed. On two occasions Kyle Abbott thought it was out but South Africa did not go for review. Replays suggested that had they taken the reviews, it would have gone in their favour.
Ramdin and Holder added 45 runs for 8th wicket and later Holder and Taylor added 42 runs for the 9th wicket just to delay the inevitable. In the meantime, Holder completed his first one day half century, a milestone that he could not even enjoy. West Indies innings finally folded for 151 runs with almost 17 overs left. In terms of margin, this is the biggest victory in this world cup and even in World Cup history. The margin is joint highest with India. India beat Bermuda by exactly 257 runs in the 2007 World Cup.
It is so difficult to comprehend that a team that lost their previous match with margin of 150 runs faces a team that won its last match by 73 runs breaking a few records in the process. The team that lost its previous match miserably decimates the team that won its previous match with command. Psychology has assumed a totally different meaning.
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