It wasn’t part of the plan: AB

Johannesburg - Proteas ODI skipper AB de Villiers says his record-breaking 149 off 44 balls against the West Indies in the second One-Day International (ODI) at the Wanderers on Sunday came down to it just being "his day".

De Villiers re-wrote the record books in a blistering knock in front of a packed Bullring decked out in pink to raise awareness and in support of breast cancer.  

“It definitely wasn’t part of the plan,” De Villiers said of his innings. “The plan was to be nice and aggressive. I sort of pushed to get David Miller in so he could take on Sulieman Benn’s last few overs but Russell (Domingo) was adamant that I should bat at three so it paid off today. My thinking was to be nice and aggressive, I had no pressure on me so lots of credit has to go to Rilee (Rossouw) and Hash (Amla) for setting the foundation. I could free up nicely knowing that if I got out there were quite a few guys to come that could hit the ball.”

De Villiers said his performance today was “up there” amongst some of his best, but also played it down to a great Wanderers pitch and some luck.

“It’s all about the momentum,” he said of his elaborate stroke play. “You don’t very often just come in and get momentum behind you right away, more often than not you have to work for it. Today was one of those days, it was the exception, out of nowhere I hit a couple in the middle and I just started going. If you think back in history, guys who have played good knocks will always say that. I got to the middle and something clicked.”

The bowlers replicated the outstanding batting performance, and built up the pressure against the West Indies’ powerful batting line-up in pursuit of a record run-chase.

“Overall I’m very happy,” De Villiers said of the bowling performance. “I’m very happy with the way Vernon (Philander) pulled it back, he started off slowly and he pulled it back magnificently. Most of the other bowlers bowled really well. Dale (Steyn) was outstanding, “Morne (Morkel) was outstanding, Immi (Tahir) adapted really well under the pressure and obviously JP (Duminy) and Fudge (Behardien) did the job. The West Indies were always going to come after the bowling, especially the part-timers, but I thought they stuck together nicely as a bowling unit today.”

Tour itinerary:

January 21, 3^rd ODI, Buffalo Park, East London 13:30

January 25, 4^th ODI, St George’s Park, Port Elizabeth 10:00

January 28, 5^th ODI, SuperSport Park, Centurion 13:30