ICC World Cup: De Villiers, Tahir star as SA thrash Windies by 257 runs

SydneySkipper A B de Villiers hammered the fastest 150 in ODI history as he led South Africa to a recordequalling 257run win over the West Indies in a Pool B cricket World Cup match here todayThanks to a sensational 66ball 162 from de Villiers South Africa posted World Cups secondhighest total of 408 for five and then inflicted further humiliation on the Caribbean side by skittling them out for a measly 151 in 331 oversLegspinner Imran Tahir returned careerbest figures of five for 45 to add insult to the West Indies injury Now India and South Africa jointly hold the record for victory with highest margin in the World Cup history as the defending champions had humbled Bermuda by 257 runs in the 2007 editionSouth Africa have now jumped to second spot in the points table while the West Indies are now fourthAlso Read de Villiers is a hockey football rugby tennis badminton champImran Tahir and AB de Villiers were the standout performers for South Africa against West Indies at the SCG PicAFPElecting to bat South Africa made a cautious but solid start with Hashim Amla 65 and Faf du Plessis 62 scoring sedate half centuries before swashbuckling de Villiers took over to treat the capacity Sydney Cricket Ground crowd with an unbelievable show of boundary hitting for a careerbest knock He punished the Caribbean bowlers with 17 fours and eight sixes in his sensational unbeaten innings after coming at the fall of Amlas wicket in the 30th over The team total at thattime was 146 for threeSouth Africa scored 150 runs from the final 10 overs to score the second highest total in any World Cup match behind Indias 413 for five against Bermuda in PortofSpain in 2007West Indies needed Chris Gayle to fire chasing such a mammoth total but the bighitting lefthander managed only 3 and the Caribbean side buckled under pressureSkipper Jason Holder top scored for them with a 56run knock batting at number nine while opener Dwayne Smith managed 31 as only four Caribbean batsmen managed doubledigit scoresThe 31yearold de Villiers who holds the record of fastest ODI hundred from just 31 balls notched up the second quickest century in any World Cup with his 52ball tonMissing the record by just two balls Kevin OBrien had hit the fastest century from 50 balls against England in the 2011 editionDe Villiers was particularly harsh on Holder whom he hit for 34 runs four boundaries and two sixes in the 48th over which had two noball free hits This was the second most runs scored in an over in a World Cup behind Herschelle Gibbs 36 against the Netherlands in the 2007 editionThe rampaging South African captain also smashed Holder for 30 runs in the final over with the help of a boundary and four sixes His strokemaking prowess was such that he took just 12 balls to reach 150 from 10025yearold World Cup debutant Rilee Rossouw also made a strokeful 39ball 61 studded with six fours and a six and he competed in boundary hitting with his captain for a while before being the fourth man out He shared 134 runs with de Villiers for the fourth wicket from just 123 oversThe hapless West Indian bowlers were thrashed all over the park with Holder conceding 104 runs for one wicket from his 10 overs while leftarm spinner Sulieman Benn bled 79 runs without any success Andre Russell and Chris Gayle took wickets apiece