South Africa 5-287 (Hashim Amla 150, Graeme Smith 52, Graeme Swann 2-50) beat England 207 ( Ian Bell 45, Samit Patel 45, Morne Morkel 2-29) by 80 runs.

South Africa clinched the No.1 ODI ranking from England by humiliating them in the 2^nd game due to a career best majestic knock of 150 from Hashim Amla.

The Proteas became the ICC Test champions after winning the three match series 2-0 from the hosts England on August 20, 2012, at Lord’s, London. South Africa rules the cricket world now by grabbing top position in all three formats of the game.

The visitors piled up 287 runs with half wickets in hand at the end of the allocated 50 overs and the hosts were bowled out for 207 runs in 40.4 overs.

Hashim Amla (South Africa) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his astonishing innings.

The second One Day International of the five match series was played on Tuesday, August 28, 2012, at The Rose Bowl, Southampton.

Earlier, the skipper of South Africa, AB de Villiers, won the toss, elected to bat while sending in their prominent opening pair of Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla. The innings was opened with caution, the first five overs produced just 11 runs and the initial four was scored by Smith in the sixth over. The run rate was picked up from the following over when Amla hit a couple of fours and Smith followed him in the next over.

The duo gathered 14 runs in the 9^th over with three boundaries and Graeme Smith attained his 35^th ODI fifty on the last ball of the 18^th over. England got the first breakthrough when Smith was caught behind by Craig Kieswetter off Tim Bresnan for 52 scored from 76 balls with 5 fours. The first wicket fell at 89 runs and Jean-Paul-Duminy joined in next with Amla who was, until then, playing as a second fiddle to Smith.

The first hundred of the innings was registered in the 22^nd over and Hashim Amla reached his fifty three over later. The score was taken to 121 as Duminy was unluckily run out for 14 runs and Amla took over from there. The third wicket contributed 44 runs when Dean Elgar was clean bowled by Graeme Swann for 15 as AB de Villiers walked in the centre. He was dropped on the second ball of the 35^th over by Kieswetter off Bresnan when he had scored just one run.

The poor ground fielding of England resulted in another dropped catch when the run machine of South Africa, Hashim Amla, was let off by the wicketkeeper again at 92 runs. Amla utilised the chance fully and smashed his 10^th ODI ton on the first ball of the 41^st over. He carried on the attack, scored his 150 on the third ball of the last over with a four over third man and became the fifth victim on the very next. Amla was gone for 150 off just 124 balls with 16 sweetly timed fours and Faf du Plessis remained unbeaten for 22. South Africa hammered 287 runs for the loss of five wickets at the end of the 50^th over.

Graeme Swann was the highest wicket taker with two whereas Steven Finn and Tim Bresnan secured one wicket each.

England had a disastrous start when their captain, Alastair Cook, was clean bowled by a swinging delivery from Lonwabo Tsosobe on the second ball of the innings. Jonathan Trott came in next and joined with Ian Bell who got a life when dropped by the wicketkeeper de Villiers at four on the third ball of the third over from Tsosobe.  Bell opened up and scored three fours in two overs as Trott held the other end.

The second wicket associated 64 runs when Trott was gone after scoring 23 runs. Robin Petersen made another dent in the batting of the home side as he uprooted the stumps of Bell for 45. The Proteas bowlers became unplayable, the English batsmen found it hard to negotiate the lethal bowling and they were reeling at 5-118 in 23.3 overs. Eoin Morgan and Samit Patel tried to consolidate the innings, kept the score board moving and 150 of the innings was displayed on board in the 32^nd over.

The sixth wicket resistance came to an end as Morgan lost his wicket for 27 runs as the total reached 159. The incoming batsmen found it hard to stay at the wicket and the next two wickets fell without the addition of any run on board. Samit Patel was the last batsman who went back to the pavilion for 45 off 51 balls with 2 sixes and 3 fours as the innings of England was folded back on 207 runs with 56 balls to spare.

Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell and Robin Petersen were the major destructors with two wickets each whereas Lonwabo Tsosobe, Jean-Paul-Duminy and Dean Elger shared one wicket each.

South Africa clinched the second ODI comprehensively by a huge margin of 80 runs and leads the five match series 1-0. The third game of the series will be held on August 31, 2012, at Kennington Oval, London.