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The Dominance of the Proteas Batting

Let's take a moment to look at the Proteas batting in 2015: with AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis in great form, South Africa were fantastic

Let’s take a moment to look at the Proteas batting in ODIs in 2015. When batting first they scored 5254 runs in 17 matches, at an average of 309 runs per innings. The result of this runfest is that South Africa have won 12 of those 17 matches.

To put this in perspective, South Africa’s last opponents, India, have scored 3463 runs when batting first in 14 matches with an average of 247 runs per innings. India have a win record close to that of the Proteas, winning nine from 14.

With the cricket season just starting in South Africa, it is strange to think that they are only going to play ODI cricket in February 2016. However, scoring in excess of 400 on four occasions just goes to show what a year 2015 was for them.

All about the batsmen.

If you want to score runs, it comes down to the batsmen. The three captains and stalwarts of the team have stood out in the limited form of game. Between them, AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis have scored almost half of the team’s runs.

And no-one has stood out more than de Villiers. He amassed 1193 runs at an average of 79.53. If that isn’t enough, he also broke six batting records: fastest ODI 50, fastest 100, fastest 150, fastest to 8000 ODI runs, most sixes in an innings and most sixes in a calendar year. Given the statistics and seeing the extravagant shots he’s capable of, it is no wonder he is loved all over the cricketing world.

But one feels with AB in the team that everyone else is only there to play a supporting role, which is unfair to world-class batsmen such as Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis. Amla scored 1063 runs averaging just over 50. One thing that Amla does well is to build partnerships. Of the eight partnerships SA had in excess of 150, Amla was part of five of them, including three stands of 247. If it wasn’t for his poor form in the recent series against India, he would have scored more runs than AB de Villiers in 2015.

Faf du Plessis will feel satisfied with his ODI performance in 2015. He was the third most productive batsman for the Proteas with 884 runs, averaging 58.93. The last innings he played in the fifth ODI at Mumbai, was arguably his best. Scoring a brilliant 133 while suffering from severe cramps in the hot Indian climate.

Even though the Proteas did not win the World Cup, they have been quite a force to be reckoned with during the whole year. Going forward it is almost certain that their key to success will be their batting.

After the four-Test series in India, the Proteas end their year with the English tour of South Africa. The tour starts at the end of December with the Boxing Day Test at Kingsmead.

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