De Villiers ton leads Proteas charge

De Villiers (146) marked his 38th appearance with his first three-figure score, sharing a stand of 170 in 29 overs with Jacques Kallis (81) on the way to 356 for four.

The second-wicket pair came together at 21 for one, after South Africa had been put in, and laid the platform for some astounding late hitting from Mark Boucher (52) and Herschelle Gibbs (61 not out).

De Villiers found the boundaries with regularity - 12 fours and five sixes - as the innings wore on despite having to bat with a runner because of severe cramp and suffering pain playing most shots through the last six overs of his stay.

Daren Powell and Corey Collymore exerted a degree of control early on, to the extent that South Africa were just 36 for the loss of their captain at the 10-over mark. Graeme Smith's attempt to knock Collymore off target resulted only in an edge behind as he eyed up a big shot from down the wicket.

Kallis, hampered by discomfort in his left ankle, might have gone caught behind on 40 had Denesh Ramdin managed to cling on standing up when Dwayne Bravo got one to bounce while De Villiers would twice have been short of his ground in the thirties going for quick singles if Chris Gayle or Devon Smith had managed to pick up cleanly and throw down the wickets.

Kallis could also easily have been run out - slow starting for a single on 48 - but again the stumps stayed intact as Bravo threw from cover. The number three therefore survived to complete his half-century, having hit five fours and a six - only to manage just one more boundary, before being bowled making room for a drive into the offside off Gayle.

But De Villiers upped the ante with four sixes from five balls faced at one stage off the spin of Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan. When the opener finally fell, chipping his 128th ball to short fine-leg off Collymore, Brian Lara at last had to take his last powerplay.

Gibbs and Boucher took advantage to continue the mayhem with eight sixes and six fours between them, the latter smashing his way to a 22-ball half-century. A mammoth 134 runs resulted from the last 10 overs, leaving West Indies facing an exacting run chase - even on this small ground - to save their Cup campaign.