AB: Hashim is on fire at the moment
Captain AB de Villiers basked in South Africa's rise to the top of the ODI rankings and lauded the record-breaking effort of batsman Hashim Amla after their 80-run win over England at the Rose Bowl in Southampton.
Captain AB de Villiers basked in South Africa's rise to the top of the ODI rankings and lauded the record-breaking effort of batsman Hashim Amla after their 80-run win over England at the Rose Bowl in Southampton.
Pushed to the top of the Twenty20 International table earlier this month and elevated to the helm of the Test championship last week, the Proteas became the first side to be at the summit of the rankings of all three formats at the same time on Tuesday.
Success in the second ODI was built on the back of Amla's superb effort, which saw the in-form right-hander reach a career-best 150 during a superb 124-ball stay at the crease, 16 boundaries included.
He passed 3,000 ODI runs in the process, becoming the quickest to reach the milestone, beating West Indian great Viv Richards by a dozen innings.
"We are quite proud. There's so much cricket around at the moment. We're working towards our ultimate goal – winning the World Cup and staying at number one in the world," said de Villiers.
"Hashim is on fire at the moment, breaking records. We're all proud of him and what's he's achieved – hopefully he can maintain that form for many
years to come.
Amla was named Man of the Match, and remained characteristically modest in assessing his vigil after being dropped by England wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter on 42 and again on 92.
"Things are falling into place. An element of fortune has to go your way but I've stuck to the basics," added Amla. "The spinners came on and it got a little more tough but partnerships were key for us and I stayed in and held the innings together."
South Africa sport a one-nil lead ahead of Friday's third ODI at The Oval in London. The series opener in Cardiff was washed out.
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