Key events
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Australia win by 276 runs
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WICKET! Maphaka c Head b Zampa 0, SA 155-10
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WICKET! Maharaj st Inglis b Connolly 2, SA 154-9
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WICKET! Bosch c Labuschagne b Connolly 17, SA 149-8
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WICKET! Mulder c Labuschagne b Connolly 5, SA 135-7
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WICKET! Brevis c Green b Connolly 49, SA 124-6
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WICKET! de Zorzi c Carey b Connolly 33, SA 107-5
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WICKET! Stubbs c Abbott b Bartlett 1, SA 50-4
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WICKET! Bavuma b Abbott 19, SA 39-3
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WICKET! Rickelton c Connolly b Bartlett 11, SA 31-2
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WICKET! Markram c Green b Abbott 2, SA 11-1
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Australia post 431-2!
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WICKET! Mitchell Marsh c †Rickelton b Muthusamy 100 (Australia 267-2)
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Mitch Marsh notches up century
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WICKET! Travis Head c Brevis b Maharaj 142 (Australia 250-1)
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Australia bring up 200-run opening stand
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Travis Head salutes seventh ODI century
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Australia bring up 100 run opening stand
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Travis Head reaches half century
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Australia win the toss and choose to bat first
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Preamble
South Africa had to go for it from the top, there was no other chance, but it brought them undone. Four wickets during the first ten overs of fielding restrictions just about decided the game. Dewald Brevis kept it alive for a moment, with 49 from 28 balls, but the hill was too steep, and even he couldn’t keep hitting for that long without a mistake.
5 for 22 for Connolly, two wickets apiece for Bartlett and Abbott, and one for Zampa. Everyone but Connolly went at more than a run a ball.
Australia win by 276 runs
An absolute hammering of South Africa by the Australians in Mackay. They lost the series 2-1 but will be cheered up by the sheer scope of that win: 431 runs with the bat, three tons and a fifty from the only four players to have a hit, then five wickets for their very junior spinner, and a quick kill all round with the ball, all done one delivery before the halfway mark of South Africa’s innings.
WICKET! Maphaka c Head b Zampa 0, SA 155-10
Connolly won’t get six though, because Zampa gets his first. Reverse sweep, ambitious from the No11, and the gloves shot goes behind point where Travis Head dives forwards. Ends up flat on his back with the wind knocked out of him, but he’s held the catch.
24th over: South Africa 154-9 (Muthusamy 9, Maphaka 0) Connolly has four more overs left after this one. Might get six. Would be the Australian figures against South Africa if he could…
WICKET! Maharaj st Inglis b Connolly 2, SA 154-9
Connolly does get five! He had one wicket in ODIs before today. Currently, 5 for 22. They don’t come much easier than when you’re defending 400 and more, but it’ll give him a confidence boost going deeper into his Australian career, given he looks a lot more promising batting than bowling at the top level. Huge smile on his face as he gets mobbed by teammates. Good bowling there, to Maharaj on 2 from 11, darting a ball through so that the charge takes the batter straight past it.
23rd over: South Africa 153-8 (Maharaj 2, Muthusamy 8) Zampa gets to sneak a very tidy over, one run from it. Still two wickets available for Connolly to take a fifth.
22nd over: South Africa 152-8 (Maharaj 2, Muthusamy 7) First ball four for Muthusamy, sweeping, but it’s all japes and pranks at this stage.
WICKET! Bosch c Labuschagne b Connolly 17, SA 149-8
Connolly has four! Look out. Gives this ball some air, Bosch aims the wind-up over midwicket, gets it straighter to long on, and Labuschagne takes the opposite kind of catch, going back this time and jumping up inside the boundary to get hold of it mid-air. Excellent again.
21st over: South Africa 143-7 (Bosch 16, Maharaj 1) Ellis continues, and Bosch nails him for one boundary down the ground.
20th over: South Africa 135-7 (Bosch 10, Maharaj 0) South Africa down to their bowlers now. Maharaj blocks out three balls from Connolly, and misses a sweep.
WICKET! Mulder c Labuschagne b Connolly 5, SA 135-7
Terrific catch by Labuschagne! That’s a decent bit of bowling from Connolly too, the best of his wickets: gets the ball to drop on Mulder, who is trying to hit straight but ends up more digging it out than smashing it. The ball drops short of long on but Labuschagne, after a very quiet day not getting a bat, puts in the dive forward, gets the ball in his right hand and then ricochets it to his left, on the move, and manages to keep fingers tucked under it all the while, including while landing. That’s a tough take.
19th over: South Africa 134-6 (Mulder 5, Bosch 9) Ellis is back, bowling his variations, but Bosch is able to use the shorter ones: two runs pulled, four runs cut, then pulls a single.
18th over: South Africa 127-6 (Mulder 5, Bosch 2) So Connolly gets the reward, with the chances likely to come given the need to attack. Sometimes cricket is just a numbers game.
WICKET! Brevis c Green b Connolly 49, SA 124-6
That’s the game. It was already almost over, but Brevis was the only chance of a miracle. A bit of dip towards the blockhole, he tries that whip-drive like he played against Zampa, but it doesn’t go so straight this time, it goes to long off where Green is loping.
17th over: South Africa 123-5 (Brevis 49, Mulder 3) Another Zampa over, and Brevis is back at him. The Christmas Day truce is over. A little short, planted over deep mid for six. Then a lofted cover drive for six more! Back to back.That ball was the ideal length for Brevis to drive, after stepping back towards leg stump. But Zampa can still beat Brevis, too. Tangles him into an inside edge while angled at leg stump, then beats his cut shot into the keeper’s gloves.
309 to win from 198.
16th over: South Africa 110-5 (Brevis 37, Mulder 2) Another over of spin escapes South Africa, only three from it, but they nearly lose Brevis run out. He sets off, Mulder sends him back. I think it’s Zampa at backward square with the throw to Connolly at the non-striker’s end, fast and flat and beating Brevis back, but the bounce is an awkward length and Connolly can’t handle the pace of the throw. It bursts through his fingers when he would have had Brevis cold.
15th over: South Africa 107-5 (Brevis 36, Mulder 0) How on earth has that happened? That is a maiden over. In a chase for 400. Bowled to Dewald Brevis, one of the fastest scorers in the world, who has just smashed the previous over from the same bowler. But Zampa draws a couple of defensive shots, bowls fast and flat to drive Brevis back, pins him on the pad for a DRS review that shows an inside edge, and escapes a couple of aggressive shots towards point that either find the fielder or miss contact. Remarkable.
14th over: South Africa 107-5 (Brevis 36, Mulder 0) A drinks break, then we finish the over. Three balls, three dots, to Wiaan Mulder.
The chase is now 325 from 216.
WICKET! de Zorzi c Carey b Connolly 33, SA 107-5
No, he wasn’t caught behind. Carey is at deep midwicket with Inglis behind the stumps. Connolly bowls a half-tracker, sitting up all fat and friendly for de Zorzi to wipe, and rather than putting it in the seats he hits it to the man in the deep. Connolly gets his second wicket in one-dayers for Australia.
13th over: South Africa 103-4 (de Zorzi 29, Brevis 36) In which case, Brevis decides to keep going. Adam Zampa comes on, leg-spinner with a great record in his career, but not against South Africa, and not against Brevis. There’s a whip-handed straight drive, dug out off middle stump and pinged straight for four, then a lofted off drive for six, over the fielder on the rope. Risky but effective, and this too after de Zorzi had muscled a sweep for four. 17 from it!
12th over: South Africa 86-4 (de Zorzi 23, Brevis 25) Ellis now, and Brevis takes one immediately, but de Zorzi is not rotating strike today. Takes him three balls to get a cut shot through cover point for one. He’s battling with the Ellis variations. Brevis ends with a couple more, but four from the over undoes some of the good work from the previous.
11th over: South Africa 82-4 (de Zorzi 22, Brevis 22) A change in the breeze from Brevis! Bartlett has been so economical, but Brevis starts the over by lifting a length ball over mid off for four. Very still as he makes contact, quality shot. Bartlett goes shorter, and Brevis murders it. That pull shot goes an absolute mile, high in its arc, over the fence, over a tall eucalypt, bouncing into a field behind the ground, where a kid picks it up and tries to hide it under his shirt until realising that everyone can see him on the big screen, whereupon he obeys the calls to throw it back.
Bartlett doesn’t like that. He reckons he’ll get Brevis with the next pull shot. So he bowls short again. He does not get Brevis with the next pull shot. He goes for six more, flatter and not so far, but six nonetheless.
Then calmly takes a single to long on with two balls to go.
10th over: South Africa 65-4 (de Zorzi 22, Brevis 5) Crazy fielding from Ellis. Off his own bowling, in the follow through, full length dive across the pitch to his right, to stop a ball on the bounce that might have cost him one run. Goes from a slower ball to a 142 kph bouncer, real zing at the helmet. Goes the slow bouncer to follow though, which is a touch higher and gets wided, so de Zorzi is able to back cut a boundary from the replacement delivery.
South Africa need 367 to win, from 240 balls.
9th over: South Africa 59-4 (de Zorzi 18, Brevis 4) Almost a second wicket for Bartlett in the over, de Zorzi with a straight bat squeezing it past his leg stump. The South Africans do better at scoring to follow it up though, getting one or two off every ball of the over bar the boundary and the wicket.
WICKET! Stubbs c Abbott b Bartlett 1, SA 50-4
Stubbs plays into his own demise. Shuffles at Bartlett, wanting to strike on the move, but it means he almost yorks himself, and the ball is too close to the line of his pad to play a lofted drive. It skews squarer than it should have, and hard to get much power, so the ball squeezes out at catchable height to cover rather than clearing mid off. Had he stood still, it might have been a nice length to lift a drive.
8th over: South Africa 50-3 (de Zorzi 13, Stubbs 1) Another over featuring a boundary, de Zorzi cracking a pull shot off his hip behind square, but again the over goes for few runs besides. Six off it, Abbott has 2 for 27 from his four.
7th over: South Africa 44-3 (de Zorzi 8, Stubbs 0) One boundary ball in the over from Bartlett, width smacked through cover by Tony de Zorzi, but otherwise tight in line. Four dots, a single. Bartlett has 1 for 19 from his four, this is crazy good defending 400.
6th over: South Africa 39-3 (de Zorzi 3, Stubbs 0) Three down to end the over.
WICKET! Bavuma b Abbott 19, SA 39-3
That’s what tends to happen in these huge chases. There’s all that pressure to find boundaries and then keep on finding them. Bavuma smears one pull shot over midwicket from Abbott, but falls going for another, under edge into his thigh and back onto the stumps.
5th over: South Africa 34-2 (Bavuma 15, de Zorzi 2) Another left-hander replaces Rickelton, this is Tony de Zorzi, who was opening in the Test team not long ago but has done well in the middle in ODIs. Three runs and a wicket, top over from Bartlett.
WICKET! Rickelton c Connolly b Bartlett 11, SA 31-2
There’s the other opener gone. Bartlett gets the ball to move in subtly at the left-hander, who plays a flick off his pads with timing but not great power, and straight at the young Australian who is back in the side tonight.
4th over: South Africa 31-1 (Rickelton 11, Bavuma 14) Bavuma lays in! That’s what they need: an early boundary backed up with the hunt for more. A mix of luck and aggression against Abbott. Three catchers behind the bat, so Bavuma flings the bat to get four through point, again to under-edge past the keeper, then over mid off for his third boundary despite a desperate chase and slide from Ellis. Add in two runs through leg and that’s a 14-run over.
3rd over: South Africa 17-1 (Rickelton 11, Bavuma 0) Rickelton wants to keep going after it. First ball of the Bartlett over, smacked through the covers for four. Lovely shot. But he can’t turn that early start into a big over. Barlett keeps getting swing, beats the outside edge at one stage, has Rickelton find a fielder at others, and there are four dots before a brace behind square to end the over. Bavuma still hasn’t faced.
WICKET! Markram c Green b Abbott 2, SA 11-1
2nd over: South Africa 11-1 (Rickelton 5) Oh dear. There’s their biggest player, gone early. Markram wants to get moving, and a team chasing 400 does need plenty from a bowler like Sean Abbott. Four byes early, a couple of singles. Last ball of the over, Markram plays a massive drive, but only nicks it into the cordon.
1st over: South Africa 5-1 (Markram 1, Rickelton 4) President Bartlett opening the bowling, and Rickelton gets going quickly with a clip to the boundary. Not bad, not bad.
