Venue : Australia won the toss and opt to bat
Date : Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein
Captain’s talk
Aaron Finch | Australia: We are gonna bat first. Looks like a dry surface. Hoping to post a decent score, might spin later on. We did our best at Paarl, South Africa played well. Big part of it is bouncing back, keep learning as a group and get the job done today. With wet outfield, It’s going to be tough out there for the fielders. Running between the wickets will be an important factor. We have got one change.Agar comes in for Hazlewood. We have gone with an extra spinner. We are batting first, hopefully it deteriorates later.
Quinton de Kock | South Africa : We also would have batted first. I am little unsure how this wicket’s gonna play. There could be lots of theories, we are just focussing on the game. Unfortunately, Bavuma is out Jon Jon will bat at three for us. We are not worried about stats, we are just worried about how we play. We know that Australia will come out and play aggressively, we just need to be ready for that.
Squad
Both teams make one change. Ashton Agar comes in for Josh Hazlewood. For South Africa, JJ Smuts replaces Temba Bavuma
South Africa (Playing XI): Janneman Malan, Quinton de Kock(w/c), JJ Smuts, Kyle Verreynne, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi
Australia (Playing XI): David Warner, Aaron Finch(c), Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey(w), D Arcy Short, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Adam Zampa.
Australia batting
Steady start from Aussies
Warner and Finch gets in the crease, Warner is on strike. Maharaj opens the attack against Australia. Warner and Finch played in patience in order to set a strong base for Australia. But Ngidi with his length delivery uprooted Warner, a lucky break through for South Africa after the dangerous player Warner returns pavilion for 35 runs. This duo gathered 50 runs partnership.
Ngidi missed a Hat-trick
Smith gets in ground and joins hand with Finch after an early wicket, Aussies struggled when Ngidi returns in 12th over. Ngidi almost got an hat-trick in that over by dismissing Smith(13) and Labuschagne(0) in the consecutive delivery. D Arcy Short faced the last ball of that over and prevent Ngidi from securing hat-trick.
Fewest match to 50 ODI wickets for SA:
26 Lungi Ngidi*
27 Lonwabo Tsotsobe
28 Imran Tahir
31 KG Rabada
32 Craig Matthews
33 Morne Morkel
Finch Half century
After the sudden fall Australia struggled to build partnership where D Arcy Short and Finch paired. This duo starts to strike aggressively to lift Aussies total, poor fielding from Proteas as they dropped two catches for D Arcy Short and one catch for Finch that will cost them. With an impressive sic Finch reached 50 runs. He has really taken his batting to the next level since taking over the captaincy.
Poor fielding from Proteas
Finch’s aggressive play comes to an end when Nortje dismissed him for 69 runs, where Australia scored 158 runs. Mitchell Marsh comes in and paired with D Arcy Short, and takes the lead. D Arcy Short takes the Finch position in striking and move Aussies further to score high. South Africa is in need to break this well settled partnership as they sums up more than 60 runs.
Couple of 69 saved Australia
Shamsi provide the necessary break through by dismissing D Arcy Short for the same 69 where Finch lost his wicket. Australia scored 224 runs for 5 wicket lose, with 8 overs left South Africa is in need to control Aussies from scoring further.
Lungi Ngidi took 6 wickets in total
Ngidi already took 3 top order wickets, and picked another 3 wickets while bowling to the lower order. Ngidi tooks Alex Carey(21) Pat Cummins(6) and Ashton Agar(9) and stunned Aussies. Ngidi’s spell which took 6 wickets in total restrict Aussies for 271 runs in total.
Best bowling figure for SA v AUS (ODIs):
6/22 Makhaya Ntini, Cape Town 2006
6/58 Lungi Ngidi, Bloemfontein 2020*
Best bowling figure at Bloemfontein (ODIs):
6/24 Imran Tahir v ZIM 2018
6/58 Lungi Ngidi v AUS 2020*
5/42 Lance Klusener v IND 1997
South Africa Batting
de Kock’s early departure
With a target of 272 to chase down, Janneman Malan and de Kock gets in to the crease. Janneman Malan is on strike. Starc opens the attack against South Africa. Starc dismissed South African skipper de Kock in the second ball he faced. de Kock return pavilion without scoring any, which leads Aussies to celebrate.
90 run partnership
After the early departure, JJ Smuts paired with Janneman Malan. South Africa seems unstoppable, Where Aussies struggled to break the partnership. This duo start to strike after a long gap of consuming balls. Janneman Malan start to strike aggressively but soon Smuts dismissed by Zampa for 41 runs that’s a very much needed wicket for Aussies. South Africa score 92 runs for two wicket loss.
Heinrich Klaasen’s half century
Kyle Verreynne gets in to the crease. Verreynne(3) return to pavilion after Janneman Malan reached his maiden fifty. Heinrich Klaasen gets in crease and dragged South Africa towards the victory. Heinrich reached his half century for 50 balls. He is carrying on from where he left off in the first game. Hundred in Paarl and follows it up with another important knock here at Bloemfontein. Zampa uprooted Klaasen for 51 runs.
Janneman Malan’s maiden century
David Miller joins with Janneman Malan who stands in crease from the beginning and drag South Africa to beat the target. With an boundary in Starc’s over Janneman Malan reached his maiden ton. A maiden ODI hundred in his second game for the 23-year old Janneman Malan. There’s nothing half-hearted about the celebration though, sees the ball flying fine past the keeper and points to the badge on his helmet whilst soaking in all the applause from all corners of the ground. Miller engulfs him in a warm, tight hug and this means a lot to the Malan family.
Malam and Miller brings 50 run stand that plays crucial role at the end. With a boundary in Starc’s over South Africa reached their taget. A special win for the Proteas as they seal their first ever series (across formats) win in a year. Proteas bagged the series 2-0 with a game to go and to put icing on the cake, this is the highest successful chase at this ground.
Most ODI wins for SA against a team:
50 vs Australia (102 matches)*
50 vs Pakistan (79)
46 vs India (84)
44 vs Sri Lanka (77)
44 vs West Indies (62)
SA have won 10 of their last 11 ODIs against Australia — W W L W W W W W W W
Highest successful chase at Bloemfontein (ODIs):
272 by SA v AUS, 2020*
263 by ENG v SA, 1996
253 by NZ v ZIM, 2003
250 by SA v NZ, 2005
Players of the Match
Lungi Ngidi(South Africa) bowling : 6 wickets for 58 runs in 10 overs.
Janneman Malan(South Sfrica) batting : 129* runs off 139 balls.
Lungi Ngidi : “Very happy. I was given a challenge before the game by the coach; you have to knock over the top three and I came in with that mentality. I am using a lot of cross-seam and bit of scrambled seam as well which is beneficial and a lot of slower ones at the death. We have been told to work hard on our death bowling, so coming out with those skills and restricting a team is a good thing. I have been very confident right now and looking to keep the momentum going”.
Janneman Malan : “Fortunately, put the first ball away for a single. Compliments to the bowlers, it was brilliant, Jon Jon for steadying the ship, Heinrich for his run-a-ball fifty. There was a bit of a chat about targets after 30 overs. The partners kept me calm when I was itching a bit. They said “you need to bat through.” It was well composed by the team. With the sun going down, it was skidding a bit more, the ball got a little bit wet in the outfield and it (batting) was a bit easier.”
Captain’s view
Aaron Finch, Australia skipper: We were 20-30 short after the start that we got. Bowlers tried hard, but Klaasen coming in changed the momentum of the game, it was great batting. We just kept losing wickets at crucial times, when you got set batters batting for long periods, that makes a difference. We keep making the same mistakes along the way and we need to improve on that. Dew can’t be an excuse and we just couldn’t find that breakthrough to expose a new batter and that cost us.
Quinton de Kock, South Africa skipper: Obviously it is never good to lose a wicket early when you are chasing but having said that, Janneman and Smuts read the situation and played it well. I didn’t think that at all (of the surface being a 350+ one). They (Warner and Finch) came out with intent and played really well it was just about getting a partnership with the ball. It is great to have Lungi leading the attack in the absence of KG. It was the thing coming into the series, giving youngsters a chance, they have played a lot of franchise cricket and have learnt to play at that level but to come out here and show is great to see. It is great (that we have won the series) but we should not take the foot off the gas. It was about time (I won a series). It feels good that other guys have done well and backed me up.
South Africa’s upcoming tour
After the ODI series against Australia, South Africa assigned to play # ODI match series against India. South Africa already announced the 15 member squad for the Indian tour that set to begin from March 12.
