Key events
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South Africa win by 53 runs
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WICKET! Zampa c Stubbs b Bosch 0, Australia 165-9
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WICKET! Dwarshuis b Bosch 12, Australia 165-8
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WICKET! Carey c Brevis b Peter 26, Australia 151-7
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WICKET! Owen b Maphaka 8, Australia 147-6
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WICKET! Maxwell c Brevis b Maphaka 16, Australia 112-5
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WICKET! David c van der Dussen b Rabada 50, Australia 104-4
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WICKET! Marsh c Stubbs b Bosch 22, Australia 77-3
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WICKET! Green c Peter b Maphaka 9, SA 29-2
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WICKET! Head c Pretorius b Markram 5, Australia 16-1
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Australia need 219 to win
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WICKET! Bosch b Hazlewood 0, SA 198-6
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WICKET! van der Dussen c Abbott b Dwarshuis 5, SA 196-5
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WICKET! Stubbs c sub (Kuhnemann b Zampa 31, SA 183-4
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Century! Brevis 102 from 41
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Half century! Brevis 50 from 25 balls
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WICKET! Pretorius st Carey b Maxwell 10, SA 57-3
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WICKET! Markram c Owen b Maxwell 18, SA 44-2
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WICKET! Rickelton c David b Dwarshuis 14, SA 34-1
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Australia win the toss and will bowl
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Preamble
Here’s the match report. Thanks for following:
Some impressive bowling figures here, especially in terms of economy: Rabada 1 for 21, Ngidi 1 for 19, and Bosch 3 for 20, all from 3-ish overs. Maphaka and Peter were expensive but their bowling bought Green, Maxwell, and Carey, a good trade.
The Australians on the other hand got pumped aside from Dwarshuis with 2 for 24, everyone else went at 11 or more per over.
That’s it for us, we’ll check in with you from FNQ.
South Africa win by 53 runs
Huge win for South Africa. They break Australia’s winning streak at 10, level the series, and force a decider in Cairns this Saturday night. Dewald Brevis showed why there has been such buzz about him, with a blazing innings on a tricky surface. That was the thing: nobody else could score at his rate consistently except for Tim David, and by luck of the draw, David made half as many runs. Everyone else struggled to time their aggressive shots today. South Africa’s score was far too many in the end, and they bowled smartly at times to head off each Australian threat. Some good fielding too, aside from the couple of drops.
17.4 overs: Australia 165-10 (Hazlewood 0) No hat-trick for Bosch. Abbott falls to Ngidi, slicing the slower ball to short third while aiming down the ground. And that is that.
17th over: Australia 165-9 (Abbott 1, Hazlewood) End of the over. Abbott will have strike for the next, and will have to swing. If Australia last six balls, Bosch will be on a hat-trick.
WICKET! Zampa c Stubbs b Bosch 0, Australia 165-9
Has to go, might as well try, and he launches his drive to long on for a simple catch.
WICKET! Dwarshuis b Bosch 12, Australia 165-8
This time the bails come off! Dwarshuis is able to drag a couple of twos through midwicket from Bosch’s pace, but he needs sixes, and aims for one, missing his swing and losing middle stump.
16th over: Australia 159-7 (Dwarshuis 2, Abbott 0) Doesn’t end the over so well, young Peter. Two wides down the leg side, then a half volley that Dwarshuis belts for six over long on. Huge hit. Miles back into the crowd.
They need 60 from 24.
WICKET! Carey c Brevis b Peter 26, Australia 151-7
Rickelton is a very positive wicketkeeper. “A few of your best here, a few of your best,” he tells the bowler. And it’s not a bad one, Peter able to avoid dragging the ball short. Carey steps down and whips to leg, where Brevis is waiting and diving forward.
15th over: Australia 149-6 (Carey 25, Dwarshuis 1) Carey gets strike, then keeps it with a single. He needs to manufacture 70 runs from 30 balls while batting with the top of the tail.
WICKET! Owen b Maphaka 8, Australia 147-6
Big fielding effort from Ngidi, throws himself at the ball at deep third but can’t keep it inside the field of play. Carey gets four, Ngidi gets hurt, maybe from landing on the rope. Then Maphaka launches a beamer as Carey advances. Accidental, wet ball, the bowler apologises. Carey races back for two after fending it away, then drills the free hit down the ground, it lands inches inside the rope for four rather than six. Cuts for one. Owen has two balls of Maphaka to face… but Maphaka only needs one! Left arm, angled across, Owen steps away to swing, misses, and it hits off stump. Owen’s 8 has used up 13 balls, he’s been a bust tonight.
14th over: Australia 135-5 (Owen 8, Carey 13) On trickle the singles, with Ngidi back. Owen is a six hitter but he’s 9 from 12 halfway through this over. Carey carves behind point, good save on the rope keeps it to two, then another mis-hit over cover, hangs in the air but Brevis can’t get back in time. One boundary in the last 21 balls, since that Maxwell six. They need 14 an over. 84 from six.
13th over: Australia 127-5 (Owen 7, Carey 7) Bosch to Owen, bowls him! But he’s not out. The stumps light up but the bail doesn’t fall. We’ve seen this time and again with the Zing bails. They’re too heavy and they don’t fall. Bosch hits the outside of off stump hard, but the bail falls back in the groove. Time to change that rule like run outs: you’re out when the Zings light up. Carey gets a boundary away over cover, but those are four of only six runs from the over, Bosch using his slower balls and digging them into the surface. The Aussies are swinging but rarely landing.
They need some carnage overs: now 92 from 42 required. South Africa’s to lose.
12th over: Australia 121-5 (Owen 6, Carey 2) Peter gets the chance to return, with a couple of new players at the crease. Starts well, a couple of singles. Surely Carey gets the sweep out? It doesn’t happen. They can’t connect with their hits, running ones and twos. Only six from the over! Huge win for Peter. He’s now 0 for 25 from two.
11th over: Australia 115-5 (Owen 2, Carey 0) So Maphaka has been expensive but taken two key wickets. And South Africa’s match-ups haven’t worked for the intended players but twice have taken out that player’s partner: Head and Maxwell both went that way.
Australia need 104 from 54.
WICKET! Maxwell c Brevis b Maphaka 16, Australia 112-5
They’re brought on Maphaka, a left-armer, because Owen has struggled against them. Gets off strike with an outside edge. Maxwell utterly smokes a fuller ball over square leg. That classic Maxwell style where he dips the back knee, gets it low with his front leg out of the way, and smacks it way squarer than he has any right to. But after surviving a DRS use for caught behind, he tries a similar shot and doesn’t get the distance as it goes straighter, to deep midwicket. Australia in strife now.
10th over: Australia 104-4 (Maxwell 9, Owen 0) Rabada ends the over well: beats Owen on the outside edge, then smacks him in the grille. Off the angled edge and into the front of the wire. Concussion protocol: initiated.
WICKET! David c van der Dussen b Rabada 50, Australia 104-4
It’s wet out there. Soaked. They just showed a slow-mo shot of the ball rolling across the turf, and it was sending up a peacock-tail spray of water. Selections for South Africa, should they have picked the leggie? Can’t grip the ball, surely. He’s been dragged and Rabada has been brought back, I think this is earlier than he might normally be for his over in the middle.
It doesn’t help initially. He bowls at the legs and David flicks him for six over midwicket, a straight flick too, then a single to raise 50 from 23. But a couple of balls later the line is around off stump, David tries to lash over cover, and can’t get the elevation. Rassie snaffles.
9th over: Australia 96-3 (David 43, Maxwell 8) Right now, this moment, this week, this last month perhaps, nobody in the world is hitting it cleaner than Tim David. Another flat ferocious pull shot into the seats. Maphaka bowls a clever bouncer to keep Maxwell scoreless to end the over, Maxwell wants a wide but it wasn’t quite that high.
8th over: Australia 85-3 (David 33, Maxwell 7) So a little pause after the wicket, Maxwell works a one and a two, then plays that Maxwellian slice behind point, his tennis slice. Gets Bosch away for four.
WICKET! Marsh c Stubbs b Bosch 22, Australia 77-3
Again Marsh gets into trouble going across the line of the ball, skews the leg-side hit and it goes straight down the ground. Basic outfielder’s catch.
7th over: Australia 77-2 (Marsh 22, David 32) Fielding restrictions are over, so on comes the leg spinner, Peter. Starts nervously, with a wide, draws one defensive shot from David, then gets got. Neither of his short balls actually gets up very high, he’s unlucky to have either of them clouted, but he’s bowling to two cross-bat brutes, and David smears one into the crowd while Marsh puts the next one bounce into the gap. There’s a moment of respite with a better ball that’s tucked for a single, but then we’re back to the Biblical showdown, Peter versus David, and tonight the rock gets rocked. Short again, pulled again, and that ball has disappeared. Tim David has hit that into the sea.
19 from the over.
6th over: Australia 58-2 (Marsh 17, David 19) David keeps trying to blast, but can’t time Ngidi. Not the first time, not the second, then he line-drives the third ball out over cover off a length. All muscle, not much timing. Fourth of the over, heaves it to deep square and dropped by Stubbs. Same man who dropped him on Sunday and cost them that game. That last time it was a steepler, this time it’s the opposite, low and flat, he’s coming forward, diving forward, and fingertips it into the ground. David didn’t run, he didn’t run on the Sunday drop either. Needs to add that to his game, it’s a funny blind spot. He gets the single next ball, and Marsh ends the Powerplay with a drive over cover.
58 for 2 from their first six overs, they need 161 more from 84 balls.
5th over: Australia 41-2 (Marsh 10, David 12) Markram turns back to Rabada to find some control. Marsh keeps getting hit on the pad looking to hit behind square leg. David pummels one but the midwicket sweeper cleans it up. A couple more wides in this over, but after the second of those Marsh is happy to bunt a single. David does the same. Happy to respect Rabada, 8 from the over. The asking rate is almost 12 now, they need to get a move on.
4th over: Australia 41-2 (Marsh 10, David 12) Sore shoulder or not, in walks Tim David, and goes 4, 4, 4! The first two were short, he pulls one fine and one square, and gets a rare compliment from a bowler who has just been hit. Maphaka finally pitches up, so David goes over cover for the third. Maphaka gets the wicket in that over, but the other five balls go for 21.
WICKET! Green c Peter b Maphaka 9, SA 29-2
Another blow for the young star. Maphaka was terrific the other night, and gets rid of Green tonight. After being pulled for two boundaries, Maphaka stays short, Green pulls hard, and Peter at midwicket dives to his right to take a good catch. The ball hits his leg as he tries to throw it away to celebrate, and the umpires check whether there’s a Herschelle Gibbs situation, but he’d controlled the ball before he stood up, then lost it while trying to celebrate. Two separate movements, he’s fine.
3rd over: Australia 20-1 (Marsh 10, Green 1) Ngidi adds to the South African pressure! Good over, mixes up his pace a lot, Green can’t time anything, three singles and a leg bye.
WICKET! Head c Pretorius b Markram 5, Australia 16-1
2nd over: Australia 16-1 (Marsh 8) Markram’s part-time off spin is probably brought into the attack more for Marsh’s sake, but Marsh slog sweeps the first of the over for six, and Head is the one to get from the last ball of the over. Nothing special, should have gone the distance, and he murders spin bowling more often than not, but he hits this too flat, and Pretorius takes it despite stepping back very close to the rope.
1st over: Australia 7-0 (Marsh 0, Head 4) A great first over from Rabada. Gets pinged on a couple of marginal wide calls, but gives away very little. A leg bye to Marsh, then Head swings and misses at a few, Rabada keeping it away from the bat by angling it across, until Head finally stops belting and plays a glide for four.
Australia need 219 to win
Huge score for Australia to chase, but their team is set up to chase huge scores, and Travis Head has started off a lot of 200-plus innings in the IPL. Different conditions and all that, but the numbers won’t daunt them. If their approach works as planned, it’ll handle 200-plus easily. But early wickets tonight should be curtains. A fun few overs coming up…
Tim David will bat, by the way, though he didn’t field after that fall.
