Tahir, de Villiers floor West Indies

NEW DELHI–West Indies were floored by a combination of Imran Tahir’s clever leg-spin, and A.B. de Villiers’ 10th One-day International hundred that condemned them to a seven-wicket defeat in their World Cup opener yesterday. Darren Bravo led the way in the batting with 73, but Tahir snared four wickets for 41 runs from 10 overs, as West Indies were dismissed for 222 in 47.3 overs, after they were sent in to bat in their Group-B match at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium. The Caribbean side then claimed opener Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis cheaply before de Villiers smote eight fours and two sixes in an undefeated 107 from 105 balls, and shared in two significant alliances to usher the Proteas over the finish line with 43 balls to spare. “I think we had an opportunity, where we could have posted much more runs,” said West Indies captain Darren Sammy. “It so happened that all of the batsmen in our side that got starts failed to carry-on like [de Villiers] for South Africa.”

He added: “Every time it appeared we were getting back into the game, we lost wickets in clusters, so we really have to correct this. “There were still a few positives in the batting. Darren Bravo batted quite well for us, and so we will go back and look at the drawing board, and come better against the Netherlands.”
To add injury to insult, West Indies were hamstrung by the loss of vice-captain and leading all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, when he injured himself while bowling, and could only complete 2.1 of his allotment of 10 overs. Kemar Roach gave West Indies a bright start in their defence of the modest total, when Amla got an inside edge, and was caught behind brilliantly left-handed down the leg side by wicketkeeper Devon Thomas in the fourth over.

Sulieman Benn gave West Indies a false hope, when Jacques Kallis edged a loose drive, and was caught at slip for four next over to leave South Africa 20 for two. West Indies did not get another chance to celebrate a wicket until the 29th over, when Kieron Pollard bowled South Africa captain Graeme Smith for 45, following a second wicket stand of 119 with de Villiers. By then, West Indies’ fate was all but sealed, and not even a brief stoppage for rain slowed the Proteas down. A full delivery outside off-stump from Benn was square-driven by de Villiers for a single to take the Proteas wicketkeeper/batsman to his milestone from 97 balls, and a piece of World Cup history, scorer of the fastest hundred by a South African in the competition.

Earlier, Darren Bravo struck eight fours and one six from 82 balls to give West Indies early momentum. His elder brother Dwayne supported with 40, Smith made 36, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul gathered 31.
The demolition of the West Indies batting was completed by Dale Steyn with three for 24 from 7.3 overs, and off-spinner Johan Botha with two for 48 from nine overs. West Indies second match takes place next Monday at this same venue against the ICC Associate side Netherlands, the same team South Africa face three days later at the PCA Stadium in Chandigarh in their next match.

Scoreboard

South Africa vs West Indies
West Indies Inns
Chris Gayle c Kallis b Botha     2
Devon Smith c & b Tahir     36
Darren Bravo lbw b Botha     73
Ramnaresh Sarwan lbw b Tahir     2
S Chanderpaul c Peterson b Tahir     31
Dwayne Brave run out     40
Devon Thomas c Duminy b Tahir     15
Kieron Pollard lbw b Steyn     0
Darren Sammy lbw b Steyn     0
Sulieman Benn c Morkel b Steyn     6
Kemar Roach not out     2
Extras: (1b, 1lb, 11w)     13
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 Inns
Hashim Amla c Thomas b Roach     14
Graeme Smith b Pollard     45
Jacques Kallis c Sammy b Benn     4
AB de Villiers not out     107
JP Duminy not out     42
Extras: (10lb, 1nb)     11
TOTAL: (for 3 wkts 42.5 overs)     223
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.
Toss: South Africa.
Umpires: Amiesh Saheba, India, and Simon Taufel, Australia.
TV umpire: Asoka de Silva, Sri Lanka. Match referee: Jeff Crowe, New Zealand.