EDC vs SAC WCL 2025 Match 8 Highlights: de Villiers's brilliant century secured third win for South Africa Champions

EDC vs SAC WCL 2025 Match 8: Man of the Match 

AB de Villiers is the man of the Match in this match. He performed brilliantly well and did not give any chance to England Champions bowlers to come into the game even once. In his tremendous batting, he scored 116 runs in 51 balls at a strike rate of over 227. With this, he has also become the first batsman to score a century in the World Championship of Legends 2025, while overall, he became the third player after Ben Dunk and Sarel Erwee. He also hit 7 sixes and 15 fours in this amazing innings. Due to the outstanding batting done by AB de Villiers in today's match, the England champions lost this match by 10 wickets.

EDC vs SAC WCL 2025 Match 8: Top Performers 

Phil Mustard - 39 (33)

The start of the match was not good for the England Champions. Their opening batsman, Ravi Bopara, got out in the second over, while Moeen Ali also got out early. At such a time, Phil Mustard performed the responsibility of handling the inning from one end. He scored 39 runs in 33 balls with a strike rate of over 118, and he also hit a six and three fours. It was due to his intelligent innings that the England team was able to reach a decent total of 152 runs.

Imran Tahir - 2/17 (4)

Imran Tahir played a key role in preventing the England champions from scoring big. In England's Champions’ innings, he not only took two wickets but also reduced the scoreboard of England by giving away just 17 runs in four overs. He took important wickets of explosive batsmen Eoin Morgan and Moeen Ali. Both these batsmen were such that if they had remained in the match, they could have taken the team score forward.

AB de Villiers - 116* (51)

Villiers played the kind of innings that is unbelievable. He did not give any chance to any of the England Champions' players, and while showing excellent play, turned the match in favour of the South Africa Champions. In his innings, he scored 116 runs in 51 balls at a strike rate of over 227, also including 7 excellent sixes and 15 fours. It was due to his explosive batting that South Africa won the match with 46 balls to spare. The innings of De Villiers will be counted as one of the best innings in the history of this tournament.

Hashim Amla - 29* (25)

The kind of great innings that de Villiers played, Hashim Amla supported him with equal responsibility. He scored 29 runs in 25 balls, which included four brilliant boundaries, and his strike rate was 116. He supported AB de Villiers from the beginning till the end of the match and played an important role in South Africa's victory. 

EDC vs SAC WCL 2025 Match 8: 1st Innings Summary 

South Africa won the toss and decided to bowl at Grace Road. With this, England's opening batsmen came on the field. They made a few changes in their batting order in this match and sent Ravi Bopara to open the innings. But he could not do anything special and returned to the pavilion after scoring 7 runs off six balls in the second over itself. After some time, Moeen Ali's innings also ended with 10 runs in 11 balls. However, Samit Patel played with Phil Mustard for some time, and a partnership of 47 runs was seen between the two. The pair stabilised England's innings a bit and added some runs to their scoreboard. But neither of the batsmen played much, while Patel got out after scoring 24 runs in 16 balls. A little later, Mustard also returned to the pavilion after scoring 39 runs in 33 balls.

After that, captain Eoin Morgan and Ian Bell tried to handle England's innings, but the partnership of 20 runs could not be made between the two. Meanwhile, Tim Ambrose and Liam Plunkett added some runs in the death overs to take England's innings to a decent total of 152 runs. Wayne Parnell and Imran Tahir bowled well for the South Africa Champions and managed to take two wickets each.

EDC vs SAC WCL 2025 Match 8: 2nd innings Summary 

Chasing a target of 153, South Africa Champions got off to a great start from their captain, AB de Villiers, and Hashim Amla. Now, the way de Villiers batted against the Indian Champions, he started with the same energy in this match and took the game forward. Both the South African batsmen started raining fours and sixes. They batted so well that even the target of 153 runs seemed small in front of them. In this match, Hashim Amla showed responsible play and scored 29 runs in 25 balls, while de Villiers played an explosive innings and scored 116 runs in 51 balls. It was the best performance by these two batsmen, due to which the South African Champions won the match in 12.2 overs without losing a single wicket. Now, the kind of energy and shot selection that is seen while batting AB de Villiers, it does not appear at all that he is a retired cricketer. 

In the last match against India Champions and this match against England Champions, de Villiers did not give any chance to the bowlers to dominate him. He showed how much cricket is still left in him by batting brilliantly. On the other end, Hashim Amla also played responsibly and supported captain AB de Villiers well. It was a mutual understanding between the two batsmen that helped the team win the match by 10 wickets.

Key Moment of the Match  

1. AB de Villiers' innings of 116 runs in 51 balls was the biggest key moment of this match.
2. Imran Tahir taking two wickets in four overs for 17 runs was a key moment of this match.
3. Phil Mustard's responsible innings of 39 runs in 33 balls was the key moment for the England champions.
4. There were five overs in South Africa's innings in which more than 15 runs were scored in a match which tilted the game in South Africa's favour and were the key moments of the match.