Contrasting centuries from Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers guided South Africa to a comprehensive 231-run victory over the Netherlands in their Group B match in Mohali on Thursday.

Put into bat by the Netherlands captain Peter Borren, South Africa overcame an extremely lethargic start before Amla (113, 130 balls, 8X4) and De Villiers (134, 98 balls, 13×4, 4X6) put on 221-run stand for the third-wicket, which paved the way for a facile win.

Incidentally, their partnership was the highest for third wicket for South Africa.

Thereafter, a nice cameo by Jean-Paul Duminy made matters worse for ‘Oranje Brigade’ as his 15-ball 40 helped the Proteas pile up a massive 351 for five in their 50 overs.

The Netherlands batsmen never looked like making a match of it. They kept losing wickets at regular intervals to eventually get bundled out for 120 in 34.5 overs.

Imran Tahir finished with three for 22 from five overs, while Jacques Kallis (2/19) and Robin Peterson (2/22) chipped in with crucial wickets.

Having struggled to find his rhythm earlier, Amla survived a few scares before settling down to bring up his eighth century in ODIs, while De Villiers looked in great form since the time he took the crease as he completed his quickfire hundred to put South Africa in box seat at the PCA Stadium in Mohali.

At his devastating best, De Villiers entertained the handful of spectators as he hit four huge sixes out of which three came off consecutive deliveries of Bernard Loots.

Duminy also joined the party as he smashed 20 runs of the final over of the innings bowled by Ryan ten Doeschate, including two huge straight sixes.

Earlier, Dutch captain Peter Borren invited the Proteas to bat to make use of the wicket under overcast conditions, following a light drizzle yesterday evening.

The Dutch bowlers justified their skipper’s decision as they kept things tight by bowling fuller and also generated a bit of seam movement.

Holland’s new ball bowlers Berend Westdijk and Mudassar Bukhari stuck to a disciplined line and offered very few loose deliveries, as South African captain Graeme Smith and Amla found it difficult to play their free-flowing natural game.

Apart from the two short balls in the opening overs, which were immediately punished by Amla for boundaries, Bukhari and Westdijk didn’t err in length.

Initially, Westdijk and Bukhari were ably complemented by Ten Doeschate and Loots as South Africa reached 50 in 12.1 overs.

Smith, who was also looking completely out of sorts today, finally fell after making a slow 20 off 32 balls when he played across the line to a delivery that was angled into him and was bowled in the process.

Ten Doeschate then saw off veteran Jacques Kallis (2), who needlessly edged a delivery that was going way down the leg-side to wicketkeeper Wesley Barresi.