CANBERRA: South Africa captain AB de Villiers on Tuesday backed his team to go far in the World Cup following a 201-run romp over hapless Ireland in Canberra to record their third win in Pool B.The Proteas are often regarded as the best team never to have won cricket’s showpiece
By our correspondents
March 04, 2015
CANBERRA: South Africa captain AB de Villiers on Tuesday backed his team to go far in the World Cup following a 201-run romp over hapless Ireland in Canberra to record their third win in Pool B. The Proteas are often regarded as the best team never to have won cricket’s showpiece event, having fallen in the knock-out rounds after cruising through the league stage. But de Villiers was confident history could be re-written this time, but preferred not to look too far ahead. “Look I have believed for the past year that we can win the World Cup, but we are taking it pretty much match by match,” de Villiers. “I have told the boys to try and not watch other games, just focus on what we have to do. The focus now is to play Pakistan in Auckland on Sunday. “When we reach the quarter-finals we will think of the opposition and give it our best shot.” South Africa’s third win in four matches brought them level on six points with defending champions India, who have played one less match. Ireland were left with four points from three games. Score Board South Africa won toss South Africa H M Amla c Joyce b McBrine 159 †Q de Kock c Wilson b Mooney 1 F du Plessis b K O’Brien 109 *A B de Villiers c N O’Brien b McBrine 24 D A Miller not out 46 R R Rossouw not out 61 Extras (b 1, w 7, nb 3) 11 Total (4 wickets; 50 overs) 411 Did not bat: F Behardien, D W Steyn, K J Abbott, M Morkel, I Tahir Fall: 1-12, 2-259, 3-299, 4-301 Bowling: Mooney 7-2-52-1 (2nb, 1w); Sorensen 6-0-76-0 (1nb, 6w); K O’Brien 7-0-95-1; Dockrell 10-0-56-0; Stirling 10-0-68-0; McBrine 10-0-63-2 Ireland *W T S Porterfield c du Plessis b Abbott 12 P R Stirling c de Kock b Steyn E C Joyce c Amla b Steyn 0 N J O’Brien c Amla b Abbott 14 A Balbirnie c Rossouw b Morkel 58 †G C Wilson lbw b Abbott 0 K J O’Brien c Rossouw b Abbott 48 J F Mooney b de Villiers 8 G H Dockrell b Morkel 25 M C Sorensen c de Kock b Morkel 22 A R McBrine not out 2 Extras (lb 3, w 9) 12 Total (all out; 45 overs; 181 mins) 210 Fall: 1-17, 2-21, 3-21, 4-42, 5-48, 6-129, 7-150, 8-167, 9-200, 10-210 Bowling: Steyn 8-0-39-2; Abbott 8-0-21-4 (1w); Morkel 9-0-34-3 (3w); I Tahir 10-1-50-0; Behardien 2-0-13-0; Rossouw 2-0-13-0; du Plessis 4-0-30-0 (1w); de Villiers 2-0-7-1 Result: South Africa won by 201 runs Points: South Africa 2, Ireland 0 Man of the Match: H M Amla (South Africa) Umpires: S J Davis and R E J Martinesz (Sri Lanka). TV umpire: I J Gould (England). Match referee: R S Mahanama (Sri Lanka)
