AB de Villiers, South Africa Smash West Indies and More on Day 14

Be grateful for the ICC Associate Nations at the World Cup.

The teams that the sport's governing body are planning to get rid of for the next tournament have so far provided us with the only close contests in the 2015 competition.

Friday saw yet another lopsided result in a meeting of two full members, with South Africa thrashing West Indies by the small matter of 257 runs.

It was the joint-worst defeat in World Cup history, per Sidharth Monga of ESPN Cricinfo, and a serious blow to West Indies' hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages.

They still sit in the top four of Pool B, but have played four matches and can only get to a maximum of eight points now.

The Proteas had gone into the game off the back of a bad loss of their own, having been well beaten by reigning champions India in Melbourne on Sunday.

However, they bounced back in emphatic fashion. Batting first, they piled up 408 for five at the SCG.

South Africa skipper AB de Villiers smashed an unbeaten 162 from a mere 66 deliveries, a score the entire West Indies team failed to get between themselves.

The men from the Caribbean were bowled out for 151 in 33.1 overs, with their captain also finishing as their leading scorer.

Jason Holder, batting down at nine, made 56. It was his second milestone of the day—the seamer had earlier conceded three figures off his bowling, going for 104 runs in 10 overs.

Catch of the day

The match offered plenty of candidates for the honour.

De Villiers made good ground to pouch Jonathan Carter at mid-wicket, while David Miller travelled a fair distance to reel in a chance from Dwayne Smith. 

Kyle Abbott had to dive low to grab Andre Russell at short third man, and on any other day, that trio would have been the pick of the bunch.

However, West Indies’ Jerome Taylor is the winner for a fine one-handed effort at long-on.

Miller probably thought he had got enough bat on a delivery from Russell to clear the rope.

The fielder, though, had other ideas. Making ground to his right, Taylor rather nonchalantly stuck one hand in the air to grasp the ball right on the edge of the boundary.

It was a seriously tough catch made to look ridiculously easy.

Delivery of the day

If West Indies were even going to get remotely close to South Africa’s mammoth total, they needed something special from Chris Gayle.

That hope, though, disappeared nine balls into their run chase.

Gayle stepped to leg in an attempt to launch the ball possibly back towards his homeland of Jamaica, but instead was bowled by Kyle Abbott for three.

It was all a far cry from the left-hander’s previous knock in the tournament—he had made a double hundred against Zimbabwe three days earlier. 

Well, they do say form is temporary.

Matt King/Getty Images

Shot of the day

South Africa hit 11 sixes in their innings—De Villiers contributed eight of them all by himself.

Picking out the best of the lot was not going to be an easy task, as it all comes down to personal preference in the end.

There were several straight hits that would please the purists, including one six down the ground that saw him reach his century from just 52 deliveries.

However, De Villiers also dazzled the crowd with a number of sweep shots off the pace bowlers.

Below is the best of the bunch, smashed off poor Holder in the closing stages. In slow motion, as he steps across the crease while keeping his eyes firmly on the ball, it looks even more impressive.

"

Shot #ABDeVilliers  #Cricket #SAvWI #CWC15 https://t.co/6eOZsKcFMx

— Taimoor Zaman (@taimoorza) February 27, 2015"

An honourable mention for Rilee Rossouw; he reached his 50 in acrobatic fashion, steering a short ball over the top of backward point for six.

At the moment of contact, the left-handed Rossouw had both feet off the floor!

As easy as AB de (Villiers)

West Indies must be sick of the sight of De Villiers, considering he took them for the fastest century in ODI cricket not so long ago.

He did not manage to better his own record of 31 deliveries, while his hundred in Sydney is still only the second quickest in World Cup history: 

De Villiers by the numbers

Bad to worse

As if defeat wasn’t bad enough for West Indies, it has now been confirmed that Darren Bravo will miss the rest of the tournament through injury.

The batsman suffered a low-grade tear, per ESPN Cricinfo, in his left hamstring while taking a quick single in the win over Pakistan on February 21.

Saturday at the World Cup

India will look to maintain their perfect start in the tournament when they take on United Arab Emirates at the WACA in Perth.

But the big game on Saturday is at Eden Park, Auckland. World Cup co-hosts New Zealand and Australia go head-to-head in a fixture that should go a long way to deciding who wins Group A.