South African batsman Hashim Amla's 15th ODI ton guided his side to a comfortable 93-run win in the first game of a three-match series against Zimbabwe on Sunday.
Amla batted through the innings to finish unbeaten on 122 from 132 balls as the South Africa posted 309 for three, before spinners Imran Tahir and Aaron Phangiso took three wickets apiece to bowl Zimbabwe out for 216.
Amla shared a century stand with Quinton de Kock to dominate Zimbabwe from the start and establish the one-sided nature of the match at the Queen's Sports Club, Sport24 reported.
While the early starts in Zimbabwean ODIs traditionally give plenty of assistance to the side bowling first and the game starting under cloudy skies, the home side's young attack was unable to materialize on those conditions.
Seamer Neville Madziva and 19-year-old all-rounder Luke Jongwe were both handed international debuts but both struggled against an aggressive De Kock, who went to his fifty in just 42 balls.
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However the left-hander failed to convert a fifty into a century for the first time in his young career when he was dismissed for 63 off John Nyumbu's delivery.
De Kock's dismissal prompted a period of slower scoring as Faf du Plessis bedded in and Zimbabwe's spinners dragged the game back, before the batting powerplay sparked the South African innings once more with Du Plessis and Amla taking 40 runs from the five overs.
Amla went to his third hundred in four matches and AB de Villiers and JP Duminy scored quick late runs as the Proteas added 101 runs in the last 10 overs.
De Villiers said that there was talk of 250 at one point, and even when Amla came off he said that he never thought that their side would get to 300-plus. The skipper said that it shows one that South Africa is quite dangerous with wickets in hand in the last 15 overs.
While scores of above 300 have twice been chased down at Queens Sports Club in recent years, Zimbabwe failed to make the solid start they required as they were reduced to 34 for three.
Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura said that unfortunately his side lost too many wickets early on and to bring it back from there is always hard, especially against a team like South Africa.
Although Hamilton Masakadza and Sean Williams revived the innings with a 100-run stand for the fourth wicket, Wayne Parnell soon brought an end to it when he had Masakadza caught for 61.
Williams became the first of Imran Tahir's three wickets when he departed for 51 soon after, before the leg spinner cleaned up the tail along with Phangiso, the report added.
