That meant that this highly anticipated encounter petered out into a one-sided canter as the star-studded home side breezed to a comfortable victory thanks largely to a classy 75 not out from 62 balls from AB de Villiers.
On a pitch where the majority of batsmen struggled, one of the world’s true superstars made it look easy as he drove around the ground with aplomb and belted any delivery that had the temerity to rise above his waist.
The chase did not get off to the perfect start as Jonathan Vandiar (1 from 4) wafted at a full Andrew Birch (2-37 from 10) delivery and edged to captain JJ Smuts in the slip cordon. The score read 8-1 and the door to an unlikely victory opened up ever so slightly.