De Villiers hails Morris''wonderful' debut in Proteas' victorious CT clash against Pak

South Africa captain AB de Villiers has hailed the debut of bowler Chris Morris after the team returned to winning ways in the ICC Champions Trophy with a 67-run success over Pakistan at Edgbaston on Monday.

Morris took two wickets on his one-day international debut and Ryan McLaren a career-best four for 19, finishing Pakistan on 167 all out as South Africa made light of the absence of premier fast bowlers Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel in winning with five overs to spare, Sport24 reports.

Praising Morris for his 'wonderful' debut, along with the other bowlers, De Villiers said that not many teams would have been able to get 234 against that bowling attack like they did.

According to the report, Proteas Man-of-the-match Hashim Amla made 81 - after being dropped before he reached double figures, which was the cornerstone of South Africa's 234 for nine, a total the Proteas had no trouble in defending.

Both Pakistan and South Africa needed to win this day/night fixture after losing their opening Group B matches to the West Indies and India respectively.

But defeat left Pakistan's hopes of a semi-final spot hanging by a thread. They will hope that the West Indies can beat India before they tackle their fierce sub-continent rivals on Saturday, also at Edgbaston, the report added.