Amla 159, du Plessis 109 crush Ireland

MATCH 24, POOL B South Africa V Ireland played at Manuka Oval, Canberra.

South Africa 411 for 4 (Amla 159, du Plessis 109, Rossouw 61*) Andrew Mcbrine 63-2, beat Ireland 210 all out from 45 overs (Balbirnie 58, O’Brien 48 Abbott 21-4, Morkel 34-3) Steyn 39-2 by 201 runs

Ireland found in the hard way after dropping a catch that changed the game, how costly it can be to drop Amla when he was shelled on 10 by Ed Jones at Short mid wicket. It would have left South Africa 25 for 2. But after the reprieve Man of the match, Hashim Amla leads South Africa charge with 159 with du Plessis 109 forged a 247- run stand for the second wicket before Rilee Rossouw and David Miller stroked a partnership of 110 off 51 balls for the fifth wicket, in Canberra Amla’s 20^th hundred, in his 108th innings, came at run-a-ball and as he surpassed past his previous best of 153 with nine overs remaining. Du Plessis’ century, brought up from 103 deliveries, he too was dropped on 19 when he had edged Stirling between the keeper and O’Brien at slip.

Steyn, in his 100th ODI – notably spread over a near 10-year career, got the wickets of Paul Stirling and Ed Joyce .