Hashim Amla sends South Africa to the top of World Cricket

Hashim Amla hit a wonderful 150 off 124 balls to cap a remarkable milestone for South African cricket. 

South Africa has now become the first country to top the ICC rankings in all three formats of the game.

England drop to third in the ODI rankings behind India and in doing so end their 10 game running streak from 10 completed ODI’s.

England lost wickets regularly and only managed to make 207 from 40.4 overs when chasing down the S.A. total of 287-5 off 50 overs. 

The run chase started poorly when Cook went second ball of the innings and never seemed to pick up after that. 

Once the top six batsmen were out with 129 runs still needed off 98 balls, England’s last realistic chance of winning the game had gone.

There were also mistakes in the field for England with wicketkeeper Kieswetter making multiple drops in the innings. 

Another poor performance will see calls for test wicketkeeper Matt Prior to come back to the one day squad grow louder and louder.

De Villiers’ side lead the five-match series 1-0 after rain called the first ODI off after only 5.3 overs. The third game is at The Oval on Friday.

Stuart Banfield, cricket correspondent