AB de Villiers led South Africa superbly from the front to an overwhelming six-wicket victory over the New Zealand Black Caps at Wellington on Saturday in the first of three ODIs with almost five overs to spare. Batting first, New Zealand posted a decent 253/9 from their 50 overs with a lot of batsmen getting starts, but no one going on to make a three figure score. Brendon McCullum (56) and Kane Williamson (55) shared in a stand worth 79, which was the only worthwhile partnership of the innings with the Proteas bowlers picking up wickets at regular intervals. Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Morne Morkel, Robin Peterson and Jacques Kallis all picked up 2 wickets each. De Villiers led the South African chase brilliantly with an unbeaten run-a-ball century (106) – his 13th ODI ton. He has now scored 9 centuries over the last two years at an average of almost 80.

De Villiers was quick to give credit to his bowlers for setting up the victory. It was, indeed, the best bowling and fielding performance of the New Zealand tour to date. "We built up pressure with dot balls and our bowlers always picked up a wicket when it was needed," he said. "It was an excellent performance to restrict them to a total of 250 (253/9) and that is where we won the match."

Sri Lanka claimed top spot in the Commonwealth Bank tri-series after 6 games each by clinching a thrilling 3-wicket win against Australia in game 9 of the series in Hobart. Batting first, the Aussies posted a challenging total of 280/6 on a good wicket thanks to a maiden international hundred from rookie Peter Forrest. Forrest shared an invaluable partnership worth more than 150 with skipper Michael Clarke, who chipped in with a handy 72. However, a rollicking start from Sri Lanka courtesy their captain Mahela Jayawardene (85 from 81balls) meant that they were always infront of the asking rate, and some useful contributions from the middle order kept the Lankans in the run chase going into the final overs. Thisara Perera with an exceptional 21 from 11 deliveries saw Sri Lanka home by pulling out the long handle in the penultimate over as Sri Lanka reached the finish line with 4 balls to spare.

The action in the Commonwealth Bank tri-series shifted to the Bellerive Oval in Hobart for the first time this summer with the unusual sight of Ricky Ponting missing from the Australian line-up. Australia resisted the temptation of bringing Shane Watson back into the playing eleven, with captain Michael Clarke's return to the side the only change to the batting unit. Ryan Harris returned to bolster the bowling unit with Dan Christian hanging on to his place as the allrounder. The Sri Lankan team meanwhile was unchanged and now had a steady look to it with its two fast bowlers, three allrounders and one spinner option.

England captain Alastair Cook and fast bowler Steven Finn have broken into the top 10 of the Reliance ICC ODI Player Rankings after stellar performances against Pakistan in the four-match ODI series which finished in Dubai on Tuesday. Captain Cook has jumped 27 places to eighth position on the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen after finishing as the leading run-getter in the series with 323 runs, including back-to-back centuries in the Abu Dhabi ODIs.

Cook, who won the Test Player of the Year award at the LG ICC Awards in London in 2011, has now become the second highest-ranked England batsman after Jonathan Trott who has dropped two places to sixth position after managing just 38 runs in the series.

A fantastic hundred from England's make-shift opener for the series, Kevin Pietersen, took England to victory by 4 wickets in the 4th and final ODI of the series against Pakistan in Dubai on Tuesday. This victory completes a well deserved clean sweep of the One Day series for England following their disappointing 3-0 loss to the same opposition prior to the limited overs leg of the tour. Kevin Pietersen scored his second century in as many games to help his team achieve this feat after Pakistan posted a much more challenging 237 in their fifty overs earlier in the day, thanks to half centuries from Azhar Ali (58) and Asad Shafiq (65). Pietersen guided his team through a wobbly phase during their chase with a career best effort of 130, highlighted by 15 fours and 2 towering sixes. England eventually won by 4 wickets with 4 four balls to spare and in the process prepared themselves perfectly for the forthcoming T20s by winning this dead rubber.

After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Pakistan suffered an early blow losing opener Mohammed Hafeez caught behind for 1 off the bowling of new entrant Jade Dernbach in just the second over of the game. Pakistan though recovered as Azhar Ali (58), who was promoted to open the batting in this game, combined fruitfully with the no.3 batsman Asad Shafiq(65) to successfully resurrect the innings. The duo looked at ease against the new look England attack and started to dominate proceedings right from the outset. They also scored runs at a healthy rate and added an impressive 111 runs for the second wicket in a little over 20 overs. England's Tim Bresnan, who came in for Stuart Broad for this game got his team a crucial breakthrough in the 23rd over as he got Shafiq to drag an incoming delivery onto his stumps, while attempting to cut the ball behind point. Umar Akmal(12) promoted to No.4 just managed to add 20 runs for the third wicket before he was dismissed by the debutant Danny Briggs, caught at long off while looking to loft the left arm spinner.