Exactly two years ago, AB de Villiers etched his name in the record books by smashing the fastest ODI century of all-time. Not only in the 50-overs format, his jaw-dropping knock also remains the quickest hundred across all three forms of the international game.
| Batsman | Opponent | Total runs | Balls taken to reach 100 | Venue | Year |
| AB de Villiers | West Indies | 149 | 31 | Johannesburg | 2015 |
| Corey Anderson | West Indies | 131* | 36 | Queenstown | 2014 |
| Shahid Afridi | Sri Lanka | 102 | 37 | Nairobi | 1996 |
| Mark Boucher | Zimbabwe | 147* | 44 | Potchefstroom | 2006 |
| Brian Lara | Bangladesh | 117 | 45 | Dhaka | 1999 |
| Shahid Afridi | India | 102 | 45 | Kanpur | 2005 |
| Richard Levi (**T20I) | New Zealand | 117* | 45 | Hamilton | 2012 |
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It all happened on the 18th of January 2015 at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg. In the second ODI of the five-match series, a struggling West Indies side were swept aside by AB de Villiers and the powerful South African batting lineup. Here’s how the events of the day unfolded.
(**Note: Apart from Richard Levi’s century which came in a T20I, all other entries in the list came in ODIs.)
#5 Hashim Amla and Rilee Rossouw set the platform
The stadium was decked in pink in support of breast cancer awareness. Though South Africa were without their natural dark green jersey, there would be no shortage of their typical firepower on a pitch designed for rapid scoring. Visiting skipper Jason Holder won the toss and surprisingly opted to field first.
Openers Hashim Amla and Rilee Rossouw began rather cautiously (in comparison to what was to follow) to set the platform for the dynamic middle-order batsmen. The first 8 overs produced only 40 runs but the duo were just getting themselves in. Soon, they imposed themselves on the game by building a monstrous 247-run partnership.
Though the southpaw departed for a well-made 115-ball 128, the men from the Caribbean would have thought that a wicket might offer them some respite. However, it was not to be.
#4 The demolition job begins
With nine wickets in hand and only 69 balls remaining in the innings, de Villiers walked into the middle. The very first delivery that he faced was sent screaming to the straight boundary. He made his intentions pretty clear in the next over.
When Andre Russell and his slippery pace was brought back for the end overs, the belligerent right-hander plundered two fours as well as two sixes off four consecutive deliveries.
AB had raced to 28 from his first 8 balls. The carnage only escalated as Holder brought himself on and repeatedly wandered into dangerous territory – right into de Villiers’ arc on the leg-stump. Targeting the shorter boundary beyond backward square leg, he raced off to 45.
Requiring another maximum to acquire the record for the fastest ODI fifty, the South African dispatched a length ball into the stands and sent the stadium into delirium.
#3 Bowlers are left scratching their heads
When the 42nd over was completed, South Africa had crossed the 300-mark. The visitors were clueless about how they could stop the demolition process. They even re-introduced the gentle medium-pace of Dwayne Smith in order to somehow unsettle de Villiers.
But, he carried on relentlessly by cashing in on everything that came in his hitting zone. Even those decent deliveries which were meant to restore sanity to the proceedings failed to escape punishment. The sight of de Villiers repeatedly getting down on one knee and slapping fast bowlers to sixes behind the stumps left West Indies gasping for breath.
#2 Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide
Despite the situation looking rather grim for his side, Holder tried to lead from the front and brought himself back into the firing line. A boundary followed by three sixes propelled de Villiers to the fastest international century of all-time. He had not scraped past the previous mark but simply flattened it in emphatic fashion.
Corey Anderson (36 balls) and Shahid Afridi‘s (37 balls) astonishing records were brushed aside for a new one of just 31 balls.
Having created history, de Villiers still did not show any mercy to the West Indies bowlers and went on to loot 30 runs of the penultimate over. When he was finally dismissed, the batting wizard had 149 runs to his name from only 44 balls as well as a joint-record of 16 sixes.
However, South Africa finished four runs short of the then highest ODI total.
| Bowler | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Economy |
| Jerome Taylor | 10 | 0 | 95 | 1 | 9.50 |
| Jason Holder | 9 | 0 | 91 | 0 | 10.11 |
| Suleiman Benn | 10 | 0 | 49 | 0 | 4.90 |
| Andre Russell | 10 | 0 | 78 | 1 | 7.80 |
| Darren Sammy | 4 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 6.50 |
| Marlon Samuels | 3 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 9.33 |
| Dwayne Smith | 4 | 0 | 68 | 0 | 17.00 |
#1 West Indies mentally obliterated
Requiring 440 for victory, West Indies wilted under the mental pressure and could only manage 291 despite batting their full quota of 50 overs on the same surface. South Africa pocketed a comprehensive 148-run triumph to take a 2-0 lead in the 5-match series (which they would eventually win by a 4-1 margin).
But, the day was all about de Villiers and his unprecedented knock.
Brief Scores: South Africa – 439/2 from 50 overs (Hashim Amla 153*, AB de Villiers 149, Rilee Rossouw 128, Andre Russell 1/78); West Indies – 291/7 from 50 overs (Dwayne Smith 64, Denesh Ramdin 57, Morne Morkel 2/43, Vernon Philander 2/69)
Result – South Africa won by 148 runs
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