Rossouw, Amla slay Windies

29 January 2015 - 02:13 By Sbu Mjikeliso
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South African batsman Rilee Rossouw.
South African batsman Rilee Rossouw.
Image: MORNE DE KLERK/GETTY IMAGES

Rilee Rossouw and Hashim Amla were the toast of the evening as the Proteas gave themselves a glitzy pre-World Cup farewell with a 131 run win over the West Indies in Centurion and wrapped up the series at 4-1.

They both scored centuries at better than a run a ball - Amla 133 and Rossouw 132 - to guide South Africa to 361.

After losing Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis early, Amla and Rossouw's "bromance" led to the South African record for the third wicket - 247 - beating Amla and AB de Villiers' 238 against Pakistan at the Wanderers in March 2013.

The visitors bowled shockingly meaty lengths, juicy enough for Amla and Rossouw to put away.

There was hope of an even sparring session early on. Rossouw cracked Carlos Brathwaite through the covers for a pressure-releasing four.

There were other ways to negate slow outfields and Rossouw made use of them by sending Brathwaite, Andre Russell and spinner Narsingh Deonarine repeatedly over the boundary.

Rossouw has made things incredibly awkward for One Day captain De Villiers now.

Windies' villain-in-chief Chris Gayle went for a golden duck, edging Kyle Abbott's first ball of the innings behind to De Kock.

From that moment it was clear they weren't about to gatecrash this party, despite Marlon Samuel's angry 50 from 47 balls.

Au contraire, it is a good thing the Proteas are keeping their expectations in check because there's a hoard of teams eager to make fools out of such a polished ODI unit.

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