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That draws the curtains on our coverage of the 3rd ODI between these two sides. South Africa present themselves with a window of opportunity to draw level in the series going into Friday, while Australia will look to mop the series up in clinical fashion. Join us for our coverage of the same, and of course, a whole lot more! This is Rajarshi, signing off on behalf of Pragadeesh. Good night!
Temba Bavuma, South Africa captain: Happy with the win and the result. We needed a positive one to keep the series alive and we got it. The batters knuckled down, we got Aiden to go out there and do something special for the team. That's exactly what we're looking at game after game. Bowlers hung in well, they were banking on the wicket, assisting on spin, and that's exactly what happened. We'll have a conversation on what happened in the powerplay, trying to see how well we can navigate ourselves, but we were good after that. I thought 320 was par, only made that assessment at the end of the innings, the wicket nibbled a bit upfront, but not for long. The partnerships we got helped us take a bit of leeway later on. There were two occasions where we lost wickets trying to go bang bang. That killed our momentum a bit. The experience part is not an excuse to be honest, I think the guys have got in a proper sighter as to what to expect. Some of the guys have played in the T20s, so the experience is there from it. You need to learn as quickly as you can in international cricket. The powerplay didn't go as well as we wanted, but the way we clawed things back was what I was looking for. We bank ourselves on our fast bowlers, we haven't seen conditions like this where we can go with our two frontline spinners, and that was the call that we made. Aiden played a critical role with the new ball, that was a positive for us. The series is still set up. As long as we keep improving as a team, next game, putting the result aside, we want to keep raising the bar.
Aiden Markram is the Player Of The Match! Here's what he has to say: It's nice to contribute when the team does well, we needed a win to stay in the series, and for us to deliver a performance like that is very much on the pleasing side and confidence-building. The wicket was challenging. It was quite stoppy and turned, it's always about learning on the job on conditions like this, but it's about building partnerships and gaining momentum trying to apply some pressure on the bowlers. The initial 10 balls, I wasn't feeling too fluent and picking the ball up, so to battle that and being there till the end for the team was pleasing to me and the team. To be honest, in the final over, I was trying to think six for the whole time. Swung hard at a few but missed out. Thought it was meant to be if it was, and quite happy with how things turned out.
Mitchell Marsh - Disappointing day for us. Errors in both bat and ball. Credit to South Africa in the end. I thought 290-300 was par on that wicket but Aiden Markram showed his class and took the game away from us. Hopefully, we learn a lot from these game because we could be exposed to these conditions in the World Cup. There was a bit of turn and we didn't see it at the start of the game. We have to rectify the errors and come back strong
Match summary:
South Africa win by 111 runs
Aiden Markram 102(74) | Gerald Coetzee 4/50 (6.3) David Warner 78(56) | Travis Head 2/39 (10)
A target of 339 is never a simple ask, but with the nature of the wicket at the halfway mark and the Australian approach of going hard early on, we were in for a high-scoring thriller. However, the left-arm spin duo of Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi had other ideas. While the pace attack and Aiden Markram were smashed to all parts by the Australian top-order, Maharaj and Shamsi turned this around rather dramatically in the middle overs, and of course, a slip and a loose shoe also helped the hosts' case.
David Warner and Travis Head simply flew off the blocks, punishing anything that had width, were extreme in lengths, and went on to maintain a run rate of around 10 for most parts of the opening powerplay. The ploy to use the off-breaks of Aiden Markram against the two left-handers backfired big time - Markram went for 33 in his 4 overs as Head and Warner played out the good deliveries and bashed the moderately loose ones.
The introduction of Sisanda Magala brought about a momentary change of fortune for the hosts as Head holed out to mid on, but Mitchell Marsh, joining Warner in the middle, kept the onslaught going. The Aussies were going at an abnormal rate even after the powerplay before Tabraiz Shamsi came on. The wrist spinner had the Australia skipper hole out to long on, where Miller completed a fine, fine catch, and that opened the floodgates.
Warner then got into a tangle trying to set off for a single, refused to send his partner back and made a dash towards the bowler's end, but fell short as Maharaj threw the stumps down. Quinton de Kock showed a bit of magic of his own with a couple of razor-sharp stumpings to dismiss Labuschagne and Marcus Stoinis in succession, and from then on, the tide was always going to turn towards the hosts.
That being said, the capitulation from Australia came a little too quickly. Gerald Coetzee, having taken quite a lot of beating, came back and went on to make light work of the Australia middle and lower order. He hit the deck hard, induced a false shot or two, rush past defences, and went on to claim the last three wickets. Australia concede defeat for the first time in this tour, and they'll have a few questions that need to be answered. South Africa will be bolstered by this all-round performance, they needed one like that big-time! Onto the presentations now!
Coetzee has his fourth eventually! He closes the game out with success! Ellis' fun time in the middle comes to an end, and South Africa have a way back in the series!
34.3 Gerald Coetzee to Nathan Ellis, IN THE AIR...OUT! South Africa are back with a bang in this ODI series. Dug it short outside off, Ellis clears his front leg and punches it in the air. The ball goes straight to the fielder at sweeper cover and Hendricks makes no mistake
34.2 Gerald Coetzee to Nathan Ellis, back of a hand slow delivery, Ellis punches it down to mid-off
34.1 Gerald Coetzee to Nathan Ellis, EDGED AND FOUR! Dug it short, Ellis clears the front leg to swing this across but gets an outside edge. The ball goes over the first slip for a boundary
A superb spell comes to an end from Keshav Maharaj. Along with Tabraiz Shamsi, the left-arm orthodox spinner was instrumental in bringing South Africa right back in this contest, and as it might turn out, the series.
34
overs
223/9score
4
2
4
1
0
0
runs
Josh Hazlewood*
12(7)
Nathan Ellis
12(17)
Keshav Maharaj
2/37
33.6 Keshav Maharaj to Josh Hazlewood, quicker and fuller on off-stump. Hazlewood swings and drags it back onto his stumps
33.5 Keshav Maharaj to Josh Hazlewood, quicker on a good length, Hazlewood shapes himself for a pull and the ball deflects off the thigh pad to go the slip cordon
A slip is in place.
33.4 Keshav Maharaj to Nathan Ellis, spears this on a fuller length and it's been driven down to long-on for a single
Clearly, Ellis wants to go down swinging! So much contrasting, that, to his approach from the previous over!
33.3 Keshav Maharaj to Nathan Ellis, FOUR! Brave shot! Quicker on a good length angling in, Ellis reverses and helps it past short third for a boundary
33.2 Keshav Maharaj to Nathan Ellis, rocks back to pull the length delivery wide of long-on for a couple
33.1 Keshav Maharaj to Nathan Ellis, FOUR! A rare bad delivery from Maharaj and it's been dealt with ease. Full toss and it's been heaved wide of long-on for a boundary
No fourth wicket for Coetzee in that over! In rather bizarre fashion, he ends up going for 12 in the over bowling to the Australia number 11 instead! Right, Maharaj with his final over now.
Video
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M Labuschagne
T Bavuma
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Josh Hazlewood
*
Keshav Maharaj
Senwes Park, Potchefstroom
