Ben Stokes provided a moment of magic to catch AB De
Villiers one-handed on the boundary to stop the world's best batsman in
his tracks
Ben Stokes produced a moment of outrageous brilliance to confirm his
status as a bonafide match-winner - and it didn’t even involved him
batting or bowling.
South Africa failed by 39 runs in their attempt to overhaul a target of 400, and they needed the best one day batsman in the world to fire.
But thanks to a wonder catch from Stokes, AB de Villiers was stopped in his tracks on just eight.
Running
around the boundary at long on, the ball was already behind him when he
stuck out his right hand and somehow held on to complete a truly
stunning effort just inside the rope to rival his gully grab at Trent
Bridge last summer.
Fans behind him were in disbelief at what
they had seen, while de Villiers himself thought it was six all the way
until the last moment.
Moment of magic: Stokes celebrates his catch on the boundary
Apologies to Jos Buttler
for relegating his fourth one day ton behind Stokes’ catch as the most
memorable part of this opening one day Duckworth-Lewis win, it was a
close run thing.
“It is important to set the tone early in the
series and start with a win,” said skipper Eoin Morgan. “We’ll take 399
every day of the week and Jos was phenomenal.
“The catch was
extraordinary. Just like a game against Australia last year it was the
turning point of the match and to get AB like that shows what he can
do.”
De Villiers said: “I thought it was a great catch, if he
stayed in. There are rumours flying around the dressing room, but it was
a silly shot by me.”
In each of his three previous hundreds
Buttler had broken the record for the fastest ODI ton by an Englishman.
At 73 balls this was his slowest of the lot, and yet it was still rapid.
Flier: Hales got England off to a fast start
Promoted to No.4, Buttler took the fast start delivered by
Jason Roy and Alex Hales and ran with it. With Stokes clubbing 57 from
38 balls that meant England reached 399-9 and their second highest total
of all time.
Incredibly every member of England’s
top eight batsmen managed to clear the ropes at the Mangaung Oval
something no team has ever done before, and the 15 maximums in the
innings was a new England record.
And yet 23-year-old Quinton de
Kock took it upon himself to try and match that total all by himself
with an audacious knock of 138 not out that was his second in successive
internationals and his ninth in one day cricket.
Sadly for the home side, wickets kept falling at the other end so when rain soaked the ground England were well ahead.
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