Du Plessis ton guides South Africa to 361

Faf du Plessis became the second captain in the history of One-Day International (ODI) cricket to score a century in all three formats as his 93-ball 111 helped South Africa post 361 for 6 against Australia in the second match at the New Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Sunday (October 2).

Tillakaratne Dilshan was the only captain to have achieved this feat before du Plessis joined him. Rillee Rossouw (75) and JP Duminy played perfect second foil to their skipper after being put in.

South Africa got off to a solid start with Quinton de Kock (22) and Rossouw destroying the pace bowling duo of Joe Mennie and Chris Tremain, who are making their debut, in the Powerplay. With the conditions offering no help whatsoever to the bowlers, the openers took full advantage of the field restrictions.

De Kock, after a blistering century in the previous ODI, fell first trying to attack John Hastings. In an attempt to clear mid-on, the wicketkeeper-batsman played a big heavy only to toe the ball to Tremain. The wicket brought the South African captain, who survived an early scare before decimating the Australian attack. Trying to steal a sharp single, du Plessis was hit on the thumb from a direct hit from Aaron Finch and looked in discomfort.

Play was stopped for a while before he resumed but looked a touch shaken by the blow. However, he soon got into his groove and started laying a solid platform for a late onslaught with Rossouw. The duo stitched a 76-run stand to take the team close to the 150-run mark.

Rossouw too fell to Hastings. The left-hander pulled a shortish delivery straight to substitute fielder Daniel Worrall. At that stage, the scorecard read 146 for 2 and given the conditions, it was important for du Plessis to continue and convert his start into a big one.

With Duminy scoring at a brisk pace, the pressure was taken off du Plessis. The respite from the wicket didn't last too long for Australia as the South African duo kept milking the bowling without much fuss.

Du Plessis got to his century in the 40th over off 85 deliveries and brought up his third ODI ton against Australia. Soon after the ton, the focus shifted to Duminy as the left-hander upped the ante with ease and looked on course for another century. However, an inside edge back onto the stumps in the 42nd over off Marsh led to his downfall. The du Plessis-Duminy stand lasted 17.5 overs and yielded 150 runs.

Farhaan Behardien (13) and David Miller (26) failed to replicate the aggression of the preceding batsmen but managed to lift the team total past 350. The outing turned out to be a forgettable one for Mennie as he broke Steve Smith's record of most runs conceded on debut in an ODI for Australia.

Tremain nearly threatened to overtake Mennie's record, but ended up conceding four runs less than him.

Brief scores: South Africa 361/6 in 50 overs (Faf du Plessis 111, JP Duminy 82; John Hastings 3-57, Mitchell Marsh 2-68) vs Australia.