ICC World Cup 2015, Highlights: All-Round AB de Villiers Carries South Africa into Quarters
South Africa crushed UAE by 146 runs to confirm their spot in the knockout stage. Catch all highlights here.
AB de Villiers smashed 99 and returned to take two wickets as South Africa put out a clinical performance to seal their quarterfinal berth. Catch all highlights of the match here: (Scorecard | Points Table)
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14.00 (IST): It's all over! South Africa beat UAE by 146 runs to sail through to the quarters from Pool B.
13.30 (IST): It seems like a day when it is hard to keep AB de Villiers away from action. After two wickets, he now takes a catch to reduce UAE to 163/7
13.05 (IST): AB de Villiers strikes again! He's making it a habit to pick wickets. The dibbly-dobbly bowler bounces Amjad Javed who attempts a pull and the top edge is taken by Wayne Parnell. UAE 125/6 (34.2 overs)
12.57 (IST): Five down! Saqlain Haider perishes for 7! Rossouw takes another sharp catch, this time running in from deep midwicket. UAE 118/5 (32.4 overs)
12.49 (IST): Shaiman Anwar has thrown away a good start! He departs for 39. UAE 108/4 (30 overs)
12.10 (IST): Shaiman Anwar and Swapnil Patil have done well not to throw their wicket away but the runs have been hard to come by. UAE 67/3 (21 overs)
11.43 (IST): Another wicket down! Morkel strikes! Khurram is gone, caught behind by De Kock for 12. UAE 45/3 (12.3 overs)
11.41 (IST): Amjad Ali is gone! He goes after JP Duminy but ends up top-edging his slog sweep and hits it straight to Farhaan Behardien at deep square leg. UAE 45/2 (11.4 overs)
11.35 (IST): UAE have reached 42/1 in 10 overs with Khurram Khan (11) and Amjad Ali (19) in the middle.
11.18 (IST): OUT! Andri Raffaelo is gone for 5! An outside edge lobs up off Morkel and Rilee Rossouw takes a stunning one-handed low catch at gully. UAE 29/1 (6.4 overs)
11.10 (IST): Openers Andri Berenger and Amjad Ali have started steadily as UAE reach 2/0 in 6 overs
10.45 (IST): UAE's steep chase vs South Africa begins. Can they cause an upset here?
10.15 (IST): Fabulous hitting in the end from Farhaan Behardien. He finishes on 64 off 31 balls! South Africa 341/6 vs UAE
09.58 (IST): JP Duminy is gone! He attempted a wild swing and was struck on the knee roll on his back leg. Umpire raised his finger but Duminy reviewed it. There was no inside edge and it remained umpire's call, sending Duminy back to the pavilion. South Africa 292/6 (47 overs)
09.35 (IST): De Villiers is gone! And even the UAE fans can't believe it! The South African skipper is gone for 99, slicing a wide delivery from Shazad to Javed at short third man. South Africa 257/5 (42.2 overs)
09.34 (IST): This game is nicely set up for De Villiers to go bonkers towards the end. He's batting on 90. South Africa 240/4 in 40 overs
09.15 (IST): Bowled him! David Miller falls one short of his fifty. He attempts a pull and inside edges a Naveed delivery onto his stumps. South Africa 204/4 (36.1 overs)
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09.00 (IST): The fans in the stands seem to be enjoying De Villiers' knock so far.
The fans are enjoying this AB de Villiers innings! #cwc15 #SAvUAE https://t.co/MsBDehDSnk
- Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) March 12, 2015
08.55 (IST): FIFTY for De Villiers! The South African skipper has showed great patience to bring up his 45th ODI fifty off 54 balls. Time to shift gears? South Africa 189/3 (33.2 overs)
08.20 (IST): AB de Villiers and David Miller are in no hurry to explode here. They're happy dealing in ones and twos against the slower bowlers. South Africa 134/3 at the halfway stage.
07.55 (IST): Rilee Rossouw is gone! Soft dismissal as he chips one straight back to bowler Mohammad Tauqir. He falls for 43. South Africa 96/3 (18.2 overs)
07.54 (IST): Earlier today, Amla had to deal with a nasty beamer.
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07.42 (IST): OUT! De Kock has thrown away a good start. He goes after an Amjad Javed delivery but checks his shot right at the end. UAE go up for a caught behind appeal and the umpire turns them down. The review is taken right away and there was a definite sound. Decision is overturned and De Kock walks off for 26. South Africa 85/2 (16 overs) vs UAE
07.35 (IST): South Africa 82/1 in 15 overs vs UAE. Rossouw 34, De Kock 25.
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07.12 (IST): Rossouw (28) and De Kock (9) have done well to rebuild for South Africa quickly after Amla's wicket in the third over. They have kept the scoring rate high. South Africa 52/1 (9 overs)
06.58 (IST): It's a solid start for South Africa despite the wicket of Amla. They've put on 31/1 in 5 overs with Rossouw (10) and De Kock (6) in the middle.
06.47 (IST): Hashim Amla is gone! He attempts a pull but the top-edge goes straight to Ali at covers. Naveed gets a wicket. Amla departs for 12. South Africa 17/1 (2.5 overs)
06.36 (IST): Four off an outside edge, four off a handsome backfoot stroke, a nasty beamer and a catch at slips off a free hit - the SA-UAE game is off to an eventful start. South Africa 10/1 (1 over)
06.10 (IST): SA XI: H Amla, Q de Kock, R Rossouw, AB de Villiers, D Miller, JP Duminy, F Behardien, V Philander, D Steyn, M Morkel, I Tahir
UAE XI: A Ali, A Raffaelo, K Khan, S Anwar, S Patil, S Haider, A Javed, M Naveed, M Tauqir, F Alhashmi, K Shazad
06.04 (IST): UAE win toss, opt to field vs South Africa
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South Africa were many pundits' tip to lift a maiden World Cup this year but their inconsistency means they are now ranked behind co-hosts Australia and New Zealand. However, AB de Villiers believes Proteas are only three games away from lifting the elusive trophy.
"I 100 percent believe we are the best team in the tournament here. Those two losses in the group stage did hurt us a bit but we are past that now. We know we are very close... three games away from taking that World Cup home," de Villiers said. (Read more)
With a quarter-final against a dangerous Sri Lanka appearing likely, the UAE match at Wellington presents a final chance for some South African fine-tuning. It also has the potential to provide crucial practice for seamer Vernon Philander, who has missed the past three games with a hamstring injury.
Victory against the UAE would most likely see South Africa finish second in Pool B behind India, setting up a last eight showdown with Sri Lanka. The amateurs of the UAE are win-less so far in the tournament and should not present a hurdle if South Africa are anywhere near their best.
STATS
The teams have met only once before, when South Africa posted a 169-run win at the 1996 World Cup.
AB de Villiers (1,043) needs 106 runs to pass Jacques Kallis (1,148) as South Africa's leading World Cup run-scorer. Herschelle Gibbs has 1,067.