A second successive century from Hashim Amla took South Africa to a resounding eight-wicket victory over Zimbabwe on Sunday and secured the three-match series with a game to spare.
Amla, who scored 110 in the first match in Bloemfontein on Friday, played with immaculate discipline and controlled aggression to make an identical total from 103 deliveries with a dozen boundaries.
It was Amla’s fourth century in his last seven one-day innings, which include a knock of 92.
AB de Villiers, the International Cricket Council’s one-day cricketer of the year, did his best to stay in the limelight with a dazzling, unbeaten century of his own.
De Viliers stroked 101 from only 72 deliveries with five fours and five sixes, the last of which took him from 95 to 101, to make light work of reaching a respectable target of 269 with 11 overs to spare.
Zimbabwe lost wickets regularly after choosing to bat first and were indebted to wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu’s 78 for their eventual total after six players made good starts before falling with scores between 19 and 32.
Seamer Juan Theron bowled full and straight with clever changes of pace to return figures of 5-44 in his second international and win the man-of-the-match award.
The final match will be played in Benoni on Friday. — Reuters