AFTER THE BRIEF EUPHORIA of successive victories over Pakistan and Zimbabwe and Chris Gayle’s robust return to his familiar rampaging identity, it was back to the despair of Johannesburg and the merciless A. B. deVilliers of six weeks earlier.
In the second of the five One-Day Internationals in South Africa that directly preceded the World Cup, South Africa’s captain hurried to the middle with a licence to massacre after an opening partnership of 247 between Hasim Amla and Rilee Roussouw.
By the time he was through, the 11.3 overs he was in had yielded 192. He pummelled nine fours and 16 sixes, galloping to 149 off 44 balls. No one had ever raised their 50 or 100 off fewer balls in an ODI.
His bombardment was much the same yesterday except that the match seemed evenly balanced when he arrived.
Please read the full story in today’s Saturday Sun, or in the eNATION edition.