Buffalo Park produced the goods with a fantastic showing when the Proteas thumped the West Indies to seal the ODI series at the ground on Wednesday evening.
Despite heavy cloud cover and being on the same day that school started a full house turned out to watch the country’s best at work as they ruthlessly dismantled a lacklustre Windies team in effortless fashion.
The vocal and packed crowed fully enjoyed the action on show. However, with the game being so short they will be keen for more international action to return as soon as possible.
“Based on the fact it was the first day back at school, we are happy with the crowd attendance which was almost sold out and wish to thank everyone for attending,” said Border CEO Thando Booi.
“This just shows the East London community needs more international games and are hungry for more.
“We have been assured of other internationals and more announcements will be made soon,” said Booi.
Bowling first for the first time in the series saw SA’s bowling contingent put on a show as they crushed the Windies batting lineup with some top bowling from start to finish.
The Windies’ paltry 122 all out was their second-lowest total ever against South Africa, with only their dismal 54 all out in Cape Town in 2004 a worse showing.
It is also the third lowest total scored at Buffalo Park with only Pakistan’s 120 in 2002 and England’s 115 in 1996 lower.
Marlon Samuels’s 26 runs was the highest score, while Jonathan Carter (17) and Andre Russell (16) shared the highest partnership of just 31.
Vernon Philander’s 3/27 earned him the man of the match award and it was arguably due to his wonderful opening spell that saw him extracting shape and movement off the pitch to remove the Windies’s dangerous duo of Dwayne Smith (5) and master blaster Chris Gayle (1) in his first two overs.
Imran Tahir’s 4/28 was his best ever ODI bowling figures while Dale Steyn picked up his 150th ODI wicket, with the dismissal of Narsingh Deonarine.
Steyn now sits joint sixth on SA’s all time ODI bowling list with 151 scalps, equal with teammate Morne Morkel, who claimed his 150th wicket in Sunday’s match.
The Proteas’ relatively short innings with Hashim Amla (61 not out) and Faf du Plessis (51 not out) knocking the runs off with ease, saw them make two more records against the Windies.
The nine-wicket win marked the biggest ever chasing win the Proteas have enjoyed over the Windies, with eight being the previous best, and the 152 balls remaining was the biggest margin, with them having not previously beaten them with more than 50 balls to spare.
With the series now wrapped up the Proteas will look to give some of their World Cup squad members a run, but they will also want to keep the momentum and keep winning as they head into the World Cup.
Exciting young wicketkeeper batsman Quinton de Kock also stands to make an earlier than expected return to the team and may turn out in next week Wednesday’s series ending ODI.
The Proteas are next in action on Sunday at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth for the fourth ODI.
Proteas blossom in full flower
Despite heavy cloud cover and being on the same day that school started a full house turned out to watch the country’s best at work as they ruthlessly dismantled a lacklustre Windies team in effortless fashion.
The vocal and packed crowed fully enjoyed the action on show. However, with the game being so short they will be keen for more international action to return as soon as possible.
“Based on the fact it was the first day back at school, we are happy with the crowd attendance which was almost sold out and wish to thank everyone for attending,” said Border CEO Thando Booi.
“This just shows the East London community needs more international games and are hungry for more.
“We have been assured of other internationals and more announcements will be made soon,” said Booi.
Bowling first for the first time in the series saw SA’s bowling contingent put on a show as they crushed the Windies batting lineup with some top bowling from start to finish.
The Windies’ paltry 122 all out was their second-lowest total ever against South Africa, with only their dismal 54 all out in Cape Town in 2004 a worse showing.
It is also the third lowest total scored at Buffalo Park with only Pakistan’s 120 in 2002 and England’s 115 in 1996 lower.
Marlon Samuels’s 26 runs was the highest score, while Jonathan Carter (17) and Andre Russell (16) shared the highest partnership of just 31.
Vernon Philander’s 3/27 earned him the man of the match award and it was arguably due to his wonderful opening spell that saw him extracting shape and movement off the pitch to remove the Windies’s dangerous duo of Dwayne Smith (5) and master blaster Chris Gayle (1) in his first two overs.
Imran Tahir’s 4/28 was his best ever ODI bowling figures while Dale Steyn picked up his 150th ODI wicket, with the dismissal of Narsingh Deonarine.
Steyn now sits joint sixth on SA’s all time ODI bowling list with 151 scalps, equal with teammate Morne Morkel, who claimed his 150th wicket in Sunday’s match.
The Proteas’ relatively short innings with Hashim Amla (61 not out) and Faf du Plessis (51 not out) knocking the runs off with ease, saw them make two more records against the Windies.
The nine-wicket win marked the biggest ever chasing win the Proteas have enjoyed over the Windies, with eight being the previous best, and the 152 balls remaining was the biggest margin, with them having not previously beaten them with more than 50 balls to spare.
With the series now wrapped up the Proteas will look to give some of their World Cup squad members a run, but they will also want to keep the momentum and keep winning as they head into the World Cup.
Exciting young wicketkeeper batsman Quinton de Kock also stands to make an earlier than expected return to the team and may turn out in next week Wednesday’s series ending ODI.
The Proteas are next in action on Sunday at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth for the fourth ODI.
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