Miller, Duminy madness sinks spirited Zimbabwe

south Africa fended off a spirited Zimbabwe to notch up a 62- win at the picturesque Seddon Park on Sunday (February 15).

South Africa, put in, rode on centuries from David Miller and JP Duminy to to 339 for 4 in its opening Pool B tie.

Chamu Chibhabha and Hamilton Masakadza made 64 and 80 respectively to give Zimbabwe hope of a successful run chase. That Zimbabwe was on 214 for 4 from 36 overs would have concerned AB de Villiers, the South African skipper. But soon enough, the bowlers were able to get their act together in getting Zimbabwe out for 277.

Amla and Rossouw spark perfect Proteas World Cup send-off

 HASHIM AMLA and Rilee Rossouw gave the Castle Lager Proteas the perfect World Cup send-off as they struck impressive centuries in a record partnership that secured a 131-run victory over the West Indies in the fifth Momentum One-Day International at SuperSport Park.

 In a match reduced to 42 overs per side when afternoon rain delayed the start by two and a half hours, Amla scored 133 (105 balls, 11x4s, 6x6s) and Rossouw hammered 132 (98 balls, 9x4s, 8x6s) in a South African total of 361.

 The West Indian reply was stunted by the dismissal of Chris Gayle off the very first ball, and had its heart ripped out when Wayne Parnell picked up four wickets in 10 deliveries.

 The tourists were eventually bowled out for 230 in 37.4 overs.

 The only mild disappointment for the Proteas was Quinton de Kock’s inability to spend time at the crease on his return from injury, but the good news was that the wicketkeeper appeared fit and nimble on his feet behind the stumps.
 De Kock and Faf du Plessis fell in the opening 10 overs after the West indies had won the toss and elected to bowl in conditions that offered some swing early on, but from there on the Proteas dominated.

 Amla and Rossouw began steadily but then flicked gears in the 29th over, before going on to take 152 runs from their last 63 deliveries together.

 Their partnership of 247 beat the previous South African record for the third wicket of 238 that Amla and AB de Villiers scored against Pakistan in 2013, and is the second highest of all time after the 258 scored by Darren Bravo and Denesh Ramdin against Bangladesh in St Kitts last year.

 By a quirk of fate Amla and Rossouw have shared two partnerships of 247 in the space of 10 days. Those two partnerships are the highest for any wicket for the Proteas and 15th on the all-time list of record partnerships for any wicket.
 Amla’s average for the series is 206.5 – 413 runs from 4 innings with two not outs, which compares with the 402 runs in five matches when he became the first South African to score more than 400 runs in a series in the Caribbean in 2010.

 This was his 19th ODI century, while Rossouw’s was his second.
 In reply Gayle was caught behind off the bowling of Kyle Abbott (2 for 59), who also took the wicket of top-scorer Marlon Samuels (50).
 Samuels had added 91 with Denesh Ramdin (40), but his dismissal sparked a collapse as Parnell ran through the middle order and finished with 4 for 42 in his nine overs.

Pink Day 2015 raises more than half a million rand in support of breast cancer awareness

#PinkDay18Jan

The Castle Lager Proteas, fans and sponsors knocked cancer for a six by raising R600,000 for PinkDrive at the recent Pink Day Momentum One-Day International held at the Bidvest Wanderers Stadium on Sunday 18 January 2015.  Thanks too must go the visiting West Indies team for their full support in making the third ODI a pink day. 

 The match will go down in the annals of cricket history as one of the most electrifying as local hero AB de Villiers broke the world record with a phenomenal fastest century in a one-day international, with 100 off 31 balls and the most 6’s in an ODI (16).  Pink is obviously a good colour for the Castle Lager Proteas as they have never lost in pink.  A big thanks must go to Protea sponsors Castle Lager who backed up their support of the team with sizable donations for every run, 4 and 6.  Castle donated R163,100 through the efforts of the team.  AB’s contribution alone added up to R112,900 with his 149 runs, nine 4’s, sixteen 6’s, two of which went into the Momentum Family Area at R10,000 a pop from Momentum. 

 One-day cricket sponsors Momentum also added to the donations with R34,000 from big hits to the boundary, on to billboards and 6’s into the Momentum Family Area.  Bidvest also came on board with a sizeable R49,000 for every ball touching the boundary ropes.

 But it was also the fans in the stadium and around the country that showed their massive support for breast cancer awareness and Pink Day with donations of over R200,000 from close to 11,000 sms’ sent (R20 per sms) and R48,000 collected from donations and memorabilia sales at the stadium on the day. 
 With a grand total of R544,920 raised on match day, Momentum generously topped up the difference to take the amount up to the final total of R600,000 to make this the most successful Pink Day ever. 

 In conclusion AB de Villiers said: “It was an absolute privilege for the Proteas to be part of the most successful Pink Day to date. I've said before that this is a day on the cricket calendar that we all look forward to participating in and this year's day was special for many reasons.”

 “Special credit has to go to CSA, Momentum, Bidvest, South African Breweries and the supporters for making it another memorable day, along with their generous contributions towards breast cancer awareness and PinkDrive.  Our performances in pink seem to get better by the year so we definitely can't wait to see what next year's day will bring,” added de Villiers.