De Villiers whirlwind knock crushes record

31 – Number of balls for AB de Villiers to reach his century against the West Indies in Johannesburg, making it the fastest in the 44-year history of one-day internationals.

He broke Corey Anderson’s 36-ball record, which was set on New Year's Day in 2014 in the Black Caps' rain-curtailed 21-over ODI against West Indies at Queenstown.

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It is worth mentioning that De Villiers was playing as captain and wicketkeeper too. He pocketed records of all three departments (as player, captain, keeper) in one go.

So brutal was De Villiers’ assault at Johannesburg that he had faced only four dots, including one leg-bye, when he reached his century, which included 92 runs in boundaries (10 sixes and 8 fours).

After reaching the century, De Villiers went on to score 149 off 44 balls.

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382 – The number of days the previous record of fastest 100 by New Zealand’s Anderson lasted.

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De Villiers surpassed Anderson in one year and 17 days.

The previous record, held by Shahid Afridi, was held for 6298 days, which is more than seventeen years.

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16 –De Villiers's first half-century came in just 16 balls, also the fastest in ODI history, breaking the 18-year-old record of Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya.

The Sri Lanka legend had raced to fifty in 17 balls against Pakistan at Singapore in 1996, three days after scoring the then-fastest 100 in 48 balls, also against Pakistan at the same venue.

16 is also the number of sixes hit by AB de Villiers in course of his 149, the joint-most by any batsman in an ODI innings. Rohit Sharma too had hit 16 sixes against Australia at Bangalore in 2013 but that was in a 158-ball innings. De Villiers hit 16 sixes in 44 balls.

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132 – The amount of runs De Villiers scored in boundaries, which is the highest for an innings under 150 in ODIs. De Villiers hammered nine fours and 16 sixes, giving him a percentage of 88.59 . Talk about stand and deliver! All in all, 25 of the 44 balls he faced were sent to, or beyond, the rope.

1 – Number of times three batsmen have scored 100 in the same innings in ODIs. AB de Villiers’ maniac hitting helped South Africa in registering first such instance in the innings which had already seen hundreds from Hashim Amla and Rilee Rossouw.

267 – The opening partnership between Hashim Amla and Rilee Rossouw, the highest by South Africa for any wicket in One Day Internationals. The previous record was 238 between Amla and De Villiers two years ago (2013) against Pakistan, also at Johannesburg in the pink kits.

0 – Number of batsmen who have scored 150 in less than 50 balls. De Villiers was caught on 149 off 44 balls, missing the record by just one run. The current record of fastest 150 in ODIs is by Shane Watson, who reached this figure in 83 balls against Bangladesh at Mirpur (Dhaka) in 2011. The List A record is 65 balls by Imran Nazir, playing in Pakistan's domestic league for ZTBL against SNGPL, in 2013.

91 – Runs conceded by Jason Holder in nine overs, the most expensive spell in ODI history by a captain. The previous record was 80 runs in ten overs by Heath Streak, also against South Africa at Bulawayo in 2001.

95 – Runs conceded by Jerome Taylor from his 10 over spell, the most by a West Indian in ODI cricket. 

The most expensive 10-over bowling in ODI history remains Australian Mick Lewis's effort of 10-0-113-0 in the famous '438 game' on this same ground in 2006.

17.00 – Economy Rate of Dwyane Smith – he was accounted for 68 runs in four overs, making it the worst spell in One Day Internationals (Minimum: 4 overs bowled).

2 – Number of times two bowlers have conceded more than 90 runs in the same innings. Jerome Taylor went for 95 runs in ten overs whereas his new-ball partner Jason Holder leaked 91 runs in nine overs. The previous such instance came in 2012 when Zimbabwe’s Brian Vitori and Elton Chigumbura were taken for 105 and 93 respectively by New Zealand batsmen at Napier.

439 – The innings total by South Africa, a record effort by them and second highest in ODIs, four runs short of world record – 443 by Sri Lanka against Netherlands at Amstelveen in 2006. Four of the three highest totals in ODIs have come at the Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg.

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The Wanderers has been a high scoring venue lately. South Africa’s last four ODI innings at this venue are: 439 against West Indies, 358 against India, 343 against Pakistan and 312 against Sri Lanka.

Last week, West Indies chased down 232 in a T20 International at Johannesburg.