South Africa v Australia, 4th ODI - 5 Talking Points

Having hammered the world champions Australia in all the previous three games of the series, South Africa went into the fourth ODI at Port Elizabeth looking to extend the unassailable lead to 4-0. For Australia though, it was a matter of pride as all they could collect was consolation victories in the remaining matches.

This game turned out to be totally different from all the previous 3 games as the pitch was not made for huge scores and the bowlers had something to play for, the first time in the series. Australia, after opting to bat first, had a terrible start as they lost 3 wickets inside 4 overs. The South African bowlers were on top all the time and despite the fighting innings from Marsh and Wade, were bowled out for 167 in the 37th over.

While chasing, there were a few hiccups for South Africa at the start with the early departures of Amla and de Kock, but Faf du Plessis along with JP Duminy and Rilee Rossouw ensured an easy victory. South Africa chased down the total having more than 14 overs in hand and won the game by 6 wickets to take a 4-0 lead in the 5-match series.

1. Kyle Abbott’s fiery spell:

The tall fast bowler was at the peak of his powers and made full use of the help that the pitch had on offer and had the Australian batsmen on the back foot right from the start. He dismantled the off stump of Aaron Finch off just the third delivery of the game and followed it up with another beauty in the next over as the other opener David Warner’s stumps were knocked off the ground.

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Abbott came back in the second spell and removed the dangerous looking Mitchell Marsh and later bagged his fourth wicket by knocking over the stumps of Adam Zampa. His bowling had a lot of spice throughout the inning and the consistent strikes never allowed the Australian innings to gain any flow and he finished with figures of 40/4 in 8 overs.

2. Tabraiz Shamsi’s spirited bowling:

One of the very few chinaman bowlers in international cricket at the moment, Tabraiz Shamsi had a wonderful outing in the game as he grabbed his career best figures of 36/3 in 10 overs. He first trapped the Australian captain in front of the stumps in the 15th over and two balls later, did the same to Travis Head to send the Aussies deeper into trouble at 49/5.

He kept the run-scoring down from one end despite the Australians attacking after the early jolts. Shamsi had another wicket to his name as he picked up the third lbw to send John Hastings back. It was his first game in the series and probably the first time the Australians had a look at him and the uniqueness of his bowling action worked pretty well for his team.

3. The counter-attack by Marsh and Wade:

After losing 5 wickets for just 49 runs, Australia was in danger of getting bowled out cheaply and needed some sort of partnership to get to a respectable total. Mitchell Marsh began the counter-attack to work his way out of trouble and smashed some lusty blows. Along with Matthew Wade, he built a fifty-run partnership but got out off a peach of a delivery from Kyle Abbott, but not before scoring a fifty.

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Matthew Wade fought hard till the end to give his bowlers something to bowl with as he struggled with the tail. He found an able hand in Chris Tremain and the duo shared a 46-run stand for the 9th wicket. Wade was the 9th wicket to fall and constructed a quickfire fifty with 4 fours and 2 sixes and it was due to his efforts that the team reached 167 as otherwise, were under the threat of getting all-out near 100.

4. Faf du Plessis led from the front:

The South African skipper was immaculate in his decision-making right from the start. He shuffled his bowlers around beautifully at all stages of the game. When Mitchell Marsh was looking ominous, he brought back Kyle Abbott into the attack who immediately accounted for Marsh’s wicket and stopped him from getting a big score.

He followed up the captaincy in the field with a beautifully composed half-century in the second innings. South Africa had lost Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock cheaply and the pitch was still offering assistance to the bowlers. An anchor was required at that stage and the skipper put his hand up to provide solidity to the chase with a knock of 69 runs and the team chased the total down rather comfortably.

5. A clean sweep on the cards:

South Africa has had the better of Australia throughout the series even with the absence of AB de Villiers. With a 4-0 lead and a game to go, there are good chances that the Proteas will enforce a whitewash with a win in the last game which is a rarity against the mighty Australians. Going by the current form of the two teams, it will not be a big surprise to see 5-0 result in the series.

The Australians have lacked quality bowling and are missing their premier bowlers like Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. They have allowed the opposition batsmen to run through in all the games and failed to defend even a massive score of 371 in the third ODI. The batsmen did well on a couple of occasions but they did not have the bowling to back them up.