England v South Africa: Hashim Amla hits 150 in Proteas win

 

Second one-day international, Ageas Bowl:

South Africa 287-5 (50 overs) beat England 207 (40.4 overs) by 80 runs

Match scorecard

Hashim Amla hit 150 as South Africa beat England by 80 runs in the second one-day international at Southampton.

The Proteas' victory took them to the top of the International Cricket Council one-day rankings  and ended England's run of 10 wins from their last 10 completed ODIs.

The tourists' 287-5 in 50 overs was built on an 89-run opening partnership between Amla and Graeme Smith (52).

England lost wickets regularly as they were dismissed for 207 in 40.4 overs.

Chasing 288 at a run-rate of 5.76 an over, England got off to the worst possible start when Lonwabo Tsotsobe bowled the England captain Alastair Cook with the second ball of the innings.

Test Match Special analysis

Image of Alec Stewart Alec Stewart Former England captain & TMS summariser

"That was a brilliant 100 from Amla, off 96 balls with 10 fours. If you wrapped it up and brought it out in 15 years, you would still say that it was a wonderful innings. His placement and the way he timed the ball was superb."

Ian Bell (45), Jonathan Trott (23) and Craig Kieswetter (20) all made starts without going on, and when Eoin Morgan was sixth man out for 27 with 129 runs still needed off 98 balls, England's last realistic chance of winning the game had gone.

Samit Patel and Steven Finn gave the supporters in the Ageas Bowl some fun with some spirited late hitting in a last-wicket stand of 37 before Patel was last man out, caught behind by AB de Villiers off Morne Morkel for 45 from 51 balls.

Spinner Robin Peterson was the pick of the Proteas' bowlers, although his figures of 2-51 from nine overs were rather ruined by conceding 20 runs to Finn and Patel in his final over.

On a slow wicket that gave help to the spinners and made run scoring difficult, South Africa's challenging total of 288 was largely down to Amla's superbly paced innings, his 150 coming from just 124 deliveries.

In the 57th innings of his one-day international career, Amla became the fastest batsman to 3,000 ODI runs, requiring 12 innings fewer than Sir Vivian Richards.

Hashim Amla's last seven ODI innings

  • 52 v Australia in Durban 28 October 2011
  • 112 v Sri Lanka in Paarl 11 January 2012
  • 55 v Sri Lanka in East London 14 January 2012
  • 8 v New Zealand in Wellington 25 February 2012
  • 92 v New Zealand in Napier 29 February 2012
  • 76 v New Zealand in Auckland 3 March 2012
  • 150 v England in Southampton 28 August 2012

It was also the highest score of Amla's one-day international career, surpassing his 140 against Bangladesh in Benoni in 2008, and his sixth score of 50 or above in his last seven ODI innings. 

He was content to allow Smith to take most of the early strike, but when his opening partner top-edged a short Tim Bresnan delivery to wicketkeeper Kieswetter in the 20th over, he accelerated the scoring rate without ever completely dominating the England attack.

He managed to keep his focus after running out JP Duminy (14) in the 26th over, and brought up his 10th century in his 59th ODI with a clip off Patel to mid-on in the 41st over.

He could have been dismissed an over earlier, but Kieswetter failed to take a leg-side chance off the bowling of Finn.

It was Kieswetter's third drop of the innings, the England wicketkeeper having earlier put down Amla and AB de Villiers, and his clumsy performance behind the stumps may increase the calls for Test wicketkeeper Matt Prior to be recalled to the one-day squad.

Amla reached his 150 in the final over of the South Africa innings with a beautifully timed late cut off Finn, but was caught off the next ball by Bresnan at short third man.

South Africa become the first country to top the ICC rankings in all three formats of the game. England drop to third in the ODI rankings behind India.

De Villiers's side lead the five-match series 1-0 after rain forced the first match in Cardiff to be abandoned after only 5.3 overs. The third game is at The Oval on Friday.