Cricketers of the Week: February 5th to February 11th
Three interesting games give us our five top cricketers of the week. South Africa thumped Sri Lanka 5-0 in the ODI series, India amassed a massive 687 against Bangladesh and Australia lost an ODI series in New Zealand 0-2.
As usual, there were quite a few centuries from the batsmen but more heartening was the lone stand-out performance by a bowler in the harsh ODI conditions for their ilk.
Let us look at the top cricketers and what they exactly did. Murali Vijay misses out despite hitting a century and so does Quinton de Kock who scored a sublimely flamboyant 87-ball 109. Tharanga and Gunaratne, two centurions in a losing cause for Sri Lanka, also miss out.
#1 Faf du Plessis
In the fourth ODI against Sri Lanka at Cape Town, Faf du Plessis smashed a 141-ball 185 after walking in at 3/1 in the second over when South Africa lost Hashim Amla. Du Plessis scored his runs at a strike-rate of 131.20 and hit 16 fours and three sixes. He was eventually out in the final over of the innings, probably missing out on an opportunity to score a double ton, which would have made history for South Africa.
Faf’s ton pushed South Africa to a humongous total of 367 in their 50 overs. And despite Sri Lanka chasing valiantly, on the back of Upul Tharanga’s 90-ball 119 and a 139-run opening partnership that came in just 16 overs, South Africa held their nerve and eventually won the game by 40 runs.
Sri Lanka were in the hunt until quite late when they were 307 for 4 in the 44th over. But they collapsed to 327 all out, handing the Proteas the win.