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South Africa skipper AB de Villiers led from the front with an all-round show to help South Africa thrash minnows UAE by 146 runs and put the team's cricket World Cup campaign back on track in its final pool B ODI encounter, Wellington on Thursday.
De Villiers' 99 helps South Africa cruise into World Cup quarters
De Villiers struck a blazing 99 and then picked up 2 wickets with his medium pace to steer Proteas, who were coming off a shock loss to Pakistan in their previous match.
Striking his second fifty of the tournament, de Villiers jumped to the second spot in the run-scorers list, behind Kumar Sangakkara, as South Africa amassed 341 for six in their stipulated 50 overs after being put into bat first.
De Villiers once again proved to be the crucial cog for the Proteas, who have endured an unexpectedly wobbly campaign so far.
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His 82-ball stay was laced with 6 fours and 4 sixes, then managed a 108-run fourth wicket stand with David Miller (49) to give the inexperienced UAE bowlers a hard time.
De Villiers though was unlucky to miss out on his second ton of the tournament after being scalped by new-ball bowler Kamran Shazad.
Quinton de Kock (26) and Rilee Roussow (43) stitched a 68-run second wicket partnership though the innings wobbled after the wicketkeeper-batsman's departure in the 19th over.
The South African bowlers were also clinical in their showing as Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander and de Villiers shared two wickets apiece to bundle out UAE for 195 in 47.3 overs. UAE's No 11 Fahad Alhashmi was unable to come out on the field due to injury.
UAE were never in the chase as they lost wickets at regular intervals with wicketkeeper-batsman Swapnil Patil (57 not out) and Shaiman Anwar (39) providing the only bit of resistance in an otherwise lackluster showing.
The South Africans are now second in the pool led by India, who still have a match to play against Zimbabwe.
However, the final standings will only be known after the Pakistan-Ireland and West Indies-UAE clashes on Sunday.