South Africa go big, crush Ireland

South Africa have crushed Ireland by 201-runs in their Cricket World Cup clash in Canberra following a career-best knock of 159 by Hashim Amla.

The Proteas' total of 4-411 on a batsman-friendly Manuka Oval was just two runs shy of the World Cup record set by India against Bermuda in 2007.

Kyle Abbott (4-21) and Dale Steyn (2-39) then made fairly light work of an Irish batting line-up that successfully chased in its previous two matches; skittling the Associates for 210 in the 45th over.

The Proteas' total of 408 last week against the Windies means they’re the first team to post back-to-back 400-plus ODI totals.

"Fortunately we got off to a good start and could start playing a few shots," man-of-the-match Amla said.

"The guys have been batting well. It was a good wicket and fortunately we got some runs today."

Once again, the Proteas bounced back from an early Quinton de Kock (1) departure through Amla (159 off 128) and Faf du Plessis (109 off 109); the duo combining for a 247-run partnership.Image Id: ~/media/3332C819256647D291E0B14BCAAA0A7E

Amla became the fastest batsmen to 20 ODI centuries in Canberra // Getty Images

While AB de Villiers (24 off 9) looked ominous he couldn't go on to back up last week's heroics for the 8,831-strong crowd and was caught while attempting a reverse slog sweep.

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Ireland should have broken through for their second wicket in the sixth over, but Amla was given a lifeline when dropped by Ed Joyce at midwicket for 10.

He went on to bring up his century at exactly a run-a-ball, becoming the fastest man to reach 20 ODI hundreds in the process.

"Any hundred is a hundred," Amla said when asked about the record milestone.

"I'm just glad to get some runs, it doesn't matter how long it takes."

Du Plessis took a couple of overs extra to bring up his ton, and fell shortly after while cranking up the run rate.Image Id: ~/media/4AB36417A03D479F9DA4ADBC03526D0A

Faf du Plessis was in dominant form against the Irish attack // Getty Images

Amla was then caught at long-off while hitting out off the bowling of Andrew McBrine (2-63), the Irish tweaker then dismissing de Villiers two balls later.

Late cameos by Rilee Rossouw (61 off 30) and David Miller (46 off 23) saw South Africa push their total past the 400-mark.

Wicketkeeping-opener de Kock's poor run with the bat was the only blight on the scorecard, his solitary run lifting the total of his last five innings to just 31.

Andrew Balbirnie (58) and Kevin O'Brien (48) both put up a dogged resistance for Ireland with the bat, while Max Sorensen (0-76 off six overs) had a day to forget with the ball.

South Africa now turn their attention to their clash with Pakistan in Auckland this Saturday, while Ireland have a fixture against Zimbabwe in Hobart the same day.

Proteas captain AB de Villiers praised Amla for once again setting up the side's mammoth total.

"He'll always be our rock," de Villiers said.

"The nice thing about the batting display today was that we did it our way, we weren't following someone else's strategy, we followed our game plans."

Ireland captain William Porterfield lamented his side's failure to dismiss Amla early.

"There was disappointment, but we couldn't dwell on it. We had to get on with it," he said.

"You want to be taking your chances, but that's part of cricket as well. We've got to move on from that."