De Villiers, Proteas crush Windies

Inspired by another breathtaking innings from their record breaking captain AB de Villers, South Africa have got their Cricket World Cup campaign back on track with a crushing 257-run win over West Indies at the SCG on Friday.

De Villiers blasted an unbeaten 162 off 66 balls to help his side to 5-408, the second highest innings total at a World Cup behind India's 5-413 against Bermuda in Port-of-Spain in 2007.

Quick Single: De Villiers blasts fastest ODI 150 ever

West Indies never threatened to get close, losing Chris Gayle for three in the second over and crashing to 7-63 in the 18th over.

They were dismissed for 151 off just 33.1 overs.

West Indian captain Jason Holder top scored with a defiant 56 off 48 balls, having earlier borne the brunt of de Villiers' savage late-overs assault, during which the Proteas blasted 80 off the last 3.2 overs.

Paceman Holder conceded only nine runs from his first five overs, but went for 64 off his last two, to finish with 1-104.

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De Villiers was unstoppable // Getty Images

After a couple of early wickets for recalled paceman Kyle Abbott, wrist spinner Imran Tahir (5-45) smashed through the rest of the order, claiming his first ODI five-wicket haul.

Just over a month ago de Villiers scored both the fastest one-day 50 and 100 in history against the West Indies in Johannesburg.

On Friday he added the quickest ever 150 to his burgeoning list of achievements.

He struck 17 fours and eight sixes and thrilled the crowd of 23,612 with his audacious improvisation, clean hitting and ability to go either through or over the field.

The result improved South Africa's record at the tournament to 2-1 and dropped the West Indies to 2-2.

It was an emphatic response from the Proteas following their last-start 130-run mauling by defending champions India.

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Straight, square, in the air or along the ground, AB can do it all // Getty Images

Partnerships of 127 off 142 balls between Hashim Amla (65) and Faf du Plessis (62) and 134 off 76 between de Villiers and Rilee Rossouw (61 off 39) denied the Windies momentum after they restricted the Proteas to just 30 from their first 10 overs.

"Rilee inspired me a bit, the way he played today," de Villiers said.

South Africa scored only five fours in their first 24 overs, but finished with 30 boundaries and 10 sixes, as they piled up 214 runs from their last 14 overs.

West Indies lynchpin Chris Gayle couldn't deliver, lasting just four balls before he was bowled by Abbott, who then dismissed veteran Marlon Samuels for a duck.

De Villiers hit the quickest ODI century in Australia and it was the equal biggest winning margin in a World Cup game, tying India's 2007 victory over Bermuda.

He said his team's performance represented a great turnaround after the loss to India.

"I had a nice chat to the guys before the start of the game and I really felt the guys were motivated to play some good cricket," de Villiers said.

"It's great to see a team like that hustling around and you can see their eyes were almost like open, ready to fight."

He said he didn't feel too well walking out to the wicket and admitted to having some fortune with dropped catches and several shots not coming off the middle of the bat.

"You get into that kind of mode, it doesn't happen very often and it's quite a good feeling to feel that you are one step ahead of the bowlers," de Villiers said.

"You get a really good gut feel for what they are trying to do."

Quick Single: Windies lose star batsman for remainder of World Cup

Holder pointed it had been West Indies' first off day with the bat in the tournament.

"It was a daunting task trying to chase 408 runs," Holder said

"You have to go hard initially to try and get the runs and we just didn't get any momentum today unfortunately."

He said they could still be a force to be reckoned with if they improved their death bowling.

Batsman Darren Bravo has been ruled out of the tournament with a hamstring injury he suffered in New Zealand and a replacement will be announced in the next couple of days.