De Villiers leads South Africa to series win over England
The South African captain scored 101 not out as his team chased down the target set by England to win with five wickets and six overs to spare and take the series 3-2.
South African captain AB de Villiers hit a century and was named man of the match as he took his side to a series victory in the fifth and final one-day international against England at Newlands on Sunday.
De Villiers made an unbeaten 101 as South Africa comfortably chased down a target of 237 with five wickets and six overs to spare.
For the third successive match, an English batsman made a century but finished on the losing side. Opening batsman Alex Hales hit 112 but lacked significant support from his teammates as England were bowled out for 236 after being sent in to bat.
Hales' second one-day international century capped a fine series for the tall right-hander, who had made fifties in each of the previous four matches, including an innings of 99 in the second game in Port Elizabeth. He finished the series with 383 runs at an average of 76.60 and was named man of the series. Joe Root (27) and Ben Stokes (29) were the only other England batsmen to reach 20.
Hales and Root put on 61 for the second wicket, their fifth successive partnership of 50 or more, before Root was trapped leg before wicket by leg-spinner Imran Tahir.
Tahir took the first two wickets, dismissing Jason Roy leg before wicket after being brought on in the fifth over. Tahir ended the innings by having Stuart Broad caught at mid-off to finish with three for 53. Kagiso Rabada and David Wiese also took three wickets each, for 34 and 50 runs respectively.
South Africa were in trouble at the start of their innings with England left-arm opening bowler Reece Topley getting significant swing and doing for for Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis and Rilee Rossouw in an opening spell of three for 21 in five overs.
De Villiers walked out to bat with his side at 22 for three, and the South African captain, supported by Hashim Amla, regained control for South Africa with a fourth wicket stand of 125.
Amla made a relatively restrained 59 off 93 balls and was content to let De Villiers do the bulk of the scoring before he charged a wide ball from Moeen Ali and was stumped.
De Villiers went on to make his 22nd one-day international century and batted for 97 balls, hitting 11 fours and a six. This was a notable return to his best form for De Villiers, who had not scored a century in seven Test and four one-day innings against the tourists. And the win completed a remarkable turnaround for South Africa after they had been well beaten in the first two matches.