Friday, Apr 19, 2024 | Last Update : 09:55 PM IST
South Africa cruise to victory
South Africa’s one-day international dominance over reigning world champions Australia rolled on, despite the Proteas taking a leaf from their rivals’ playbook and resting a host of key players now th
South Africa’s one-day international dominance over reigning world champions Australia rolled on, despite the Proteas taking a leaf from their rivals’ playbook and resting a host of key players now that the series had been decided.
Much has been made of the fact Australia entered this five-game campaign without half a dozen front-line bowlers who are absent through injury or the need to give them a spell heading into a cramped home summer.
But South Africa, reeling from a string of Test and limited-overs setbacks throughout 2016, grabbed a 4-0 series lead with a match to play and an eye on an unprecedented five-match whitewash at Cape Town on Wednesday without a host of stars.
With their leisurely five-wicket triumph today, serenaded in euphoric tones by the rollicking house band at St George’s Park, coming with the names AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada, David Miller, Wayne Parnell and Morne Morkel all scratched from the team sheet.
A result that was built upon the deeds of bowlers Kyle Abbott, Tabraiz Shamsi and Aaron Phangiso who have been as unfamiliar to home crowds across the first fortnight of the series as most of the Australia quicks when they arrived in the Rainbow Nation.
Thinking they had cured the top-order batting ills that plagued them in the first two matches before they posted a record (for a brief time) score at Durban, the Australians slumped quickly and spectacularly back into their bad old ways.
Their scoreline of 3/12 was the worst start to an ODI innings since their calamitous 4-7 at Cape Town a decade earlier and for a while there was a chance they might be bowled out for less than the 93
For a wholly unsatisfactory 167, and another few days of introspective soul searching as they look to dodge the first 5-0 whitewash in a bilateral ODI series in the team’s history.
Scores: Australia 167 in 36.4 overs (M. Marsh 50, M. Wade 52, K. Abbot 4/40, T. Shamsi 3/36) lost to South Africa 168/4 in 35.3 overs (F. du Plessis 69, R. Rossouw 33*, C. Tremain 2/48).
