Tri-Nation Series 3rd ODI: Proteas bowlers were outstanding in defence

 

 

South Africa went into the match against Australia low on confidence having outdone by the hosts in the very first game of the series. On the other hand, Australia went into the match against the Proteas high on confidence having humiliated the hosts comfortably in their first game of the series. Proteas Skipper AB de Villiers won the toss and opted to bat first on a slow Guyana deck, South Africa could only managed to post 189 on the board batting first, another defeat seemed around the corner. However, the South African put up an inspired bowling effort effort to outdo the Aussies. All the Proteas bowlers came to the party when it was needed the most, from the opening fast bowling pair of Rabada and Parnell to the spin duo of Tahir and Shamsi all did their job magnificently well to defend a low score of 189. Aussie batsmen were clearly caught off guard by the disciplined Proteas bowling.

 

Although South Africa’s bowlers bailed them out of a tricky situation, the contribution of Farhaan Behardien was hard to ignore with the bat. When he came into bat, the Proteas were in all sorts of trouble. But, Behardein assessed the situation well, and instead of going for the big shots, applied himself and formed a little partnerships, first one of 37 runs for the 7th wicket with Phangiso and then the partnership of 39 with Rabada before he gets himself out while trying to up the ante in the final over of the inning.

 

Australia struggled because, they never managed to get going. Chasing a mere total of 190 runs, what they needed was a couple of decent partnerships to see them through. But, the fact that they fell way short of the target in spite of two of their batsmen Finch (72) and Lyon (30) contributing 102 runs of their own, is a clear demonstration of how poor the other batsmen were. What the Proteas did excellently well in the chase was to keep the Aussies under the pump right from the start, and never allowed the pressure to release. Wayne Parnell, the comeback man, bowled superbly with the new ball to get rid of the in-form and dangerous David Warner and the Aussie skipper Steven Smith cheaply. Kagiso Rabada stood out with the figures of 7-1-13-3, Usman Khawaja, Matthew Wade and Coulter-Nile were among his victims. The slow bowlers of the Proteas did not disappoint either. Imran Tahir got the big wicket of Mitchell Marsh before the dangerous all-rounder could get himself in. Tahir ended up with the figures of 8-0-39-2. Tahir was equally well supported by the debutant Tabraiz Shamsi who struck in his very first over to remove the struggling Maxwell, Shamsi’s impressive debut spell reads: 8-1-36-1.

 

Despite of the victory, South Africa should be disappointed with their batting effort. All the big guns – Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock, skipper AB de Villiers and JP Duminy failed for the second game in a row, they all will need to pull up their socks. As for Australia the loss is perhaps an eye opener of the fact that they are becoming increasingly dependent on David Warner to win them games.

 

Brief Scores: South Africa 189/9 in 50 Overs (Farhaan Behardien 62*, Hashim Amla 35; Glenn Maxwell 2-15, Josh Hazlewood 2-20) beat Australia 142 (all-out) in 34.2 overs (Aaron Finch 72, Nathan Lyon 30; Kagiso Rabada 3-13, Wayne Parnell 2-23) by 47 runs