De Villiers passes milestone in big South Africa win

WELLINGTON: South Africa captain AB de Villiers became the fastest man to score 9,000 One-Day International (ODI) runs as he led his side to a 159-run victory over New Zealand in the third ODI.

De Villiers scored 85 yesterday, having needed just five runs to surpass former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who took 228 innings to achieve the milestone. De Villiers did it in his 205th innings.

South Africa scored a credible 271-8 in their 50 overs and then their pace bowlers ripped the top off the hosts batting to reduce them to 58 for six in the 20th over before bowling them out for 112 in 32.2 overs.

The victory gave de Villiers’ team a 2-1 lead in the five-match series with the fourth game in Hamilton on Wednesday.

Colin de Grandhomme was the only New Zealand batsmen to really come to grips with the drop-in pitch at Wellington Regional Stadium with 34 not out and highlighted that he was batting too low at number eight in the order.

Andile Phehlukwayo (2-12 from five overs) and Dwaine Pretorius (3-5 from 5.2 overs) were the most economical of the South African bowlers.

De Villiers had again held his side’s innings together with a composed knock and was only dismissed in the final over when he failed to get underneath a Trent Boult full toss and was caught on the boundary. ■

HARARE: Zimbabwe thrashed Afghanistan by seven wickets using the D/L method to draw level at 2-2 in the ODI series.

The Afghans only managed 111 runs as they saw out just 38.5 overs of their alloted 42 as rain hit the Harare Sports Club on Friday.

Chris Mpofu took 3-25 to do the damage, Tendai Chatara and Graeme Cremer each picking up a brace of wickets.

Solomon Mire set up the home side with a well-taken 46 in a first-wicket stand of 79 with Peter Moor. Two quick wickets gave the Afghans some hope before Sean Williams steadied the ship with his unbeaten 16 guiding Zimbabwe to victory with almost 20 overs to spare.

The deciding ODI is scheduled for today. — Agencies