AB de Villiers plundered a 66-ball 162 to help South Africa beat West Indies by a massive 257-run margin in their Group B encounter played at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday.

de Villiers had earlier won the toss and elected to bat first. His side were off to a tentative start and lost opener Quinton de Kock for 12 in just the sixth over.

West Indies' bowlers kept it tidy for the first half of the innings as Hashim Amla and Faf du Plesis looked to build a platform to launch a late onslaught.

South Africa took 23.3 overs to reach the 100-run mark and just when Amla and du Plesis looked to inject some venom, they were dismissed by Chris Gayle in the 30th over.

The double-blow brought de Villiers to the crease. He and Rille Rossouw dropped anchor and prevented the loss of another wicket. De Villiers took 30 balls to reach his 50 and just 22-balls more to reach three figures. He had hit 12 fours and three sixes at that stage.

The onslaught has propelled South Africa to an impressive 300 in just 44.1 overs. de Villiers found yet another gear, in the last five overs. He tore into West Indies' captain Jason Holder in the 48th over and clobbered him for 34 runs. South Africa stood at 364 at the end of that over.

De Villiers managed just one four in the 49th over, but he made amends in the 50th and smashed Holder for four sixes and a four. The relentless-late onslaught helped South Africa score a mammoth 408.

West Indies batsmen failed to repeat their match-winning performance that they displayed against Pakistan on February 21.

In form Gayle, Marlon Samuels and Lendl Simmons fell for single-figure scores. West Indies couldn't recover from the top-order collapse and managed just 151 in reply.

"They're quite a few things that played a role. the credit had to go to the guys up front and Rilee's energy inspired me. That affected me and I wanted to play like that and then I started timing the ball and it all came off. Watching the ball is very important., Get to know your own game, play within your weaknesses and strengths and wait to play to your strenghts. I don't see it as a risk. I read the situation, I try to read the bowler and I understand my own momentum and I earn the right to go after the bowlers. I didn't know that, Should have got it at the Wanderers [Fastest 150]. The bounce of the ball went my way, but I'm sure West Indies will bounce back," de Villiers said.