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Rain could have a say yet again when South Africa and Australia face off in the final T20I of the series on Friday at Centurion. You can follow the live blog of this third and the final match from 3 am AEDT.
It’s been that kind of a week with the weather. The first game got washed off and the second one saw it reduced to just seven-overs-a-side.
And with this match also expected to be a rain-hit encounter, it’s difficult to surmise whether we should consider ourselves lucky it did not spoil an excellently-contested Test series or feel robbed of a T20I contest by the board who could have organised these games somewhere else.
South Africa would think they had a chance in the previous game but lost out to poor on-field tactics.
It was a massive surprise to have Hashim Amla open the innings for the hosts in a seven-over game, especially given they had someone like David Millers sitting in the shed for them. Miller did not get his chance to bat and while South Africa managed to get to 80 in their seven, Amla spent nine deliveries in scoring just four.
Those nine balls included eight dots, which is quite a waste of resources in this condensed an encounter.
Still, South Africa would have considered themselves fortunate to have the services of Quinton de Kock and captain Faf du Plessis, both of whom did the best that could have been expected from them.
De Kock seems to surpass himself with every encounter while du Plessis played the role of his supporting partner to perfection.
Unfortunately for South Africa, David Warner is in the form of his life.
There will come a phase in his career when Warner will look as vulnerable as anyone else but this is definitely not that time. Currently, it’s a matter of see-ball, hit-ball and he’s getting a lot of runs with that simple tactic of his.
It was no different in the second T20I as he grabbed a 16-ball 40 for himself and laid the foundation for a Brad Hodge onslaught later in the game. Most interestingly, despite having Aaron Finch and Shane Watson as his partners, Warner’s 40 came out of a team total of 48, in 4.1 overs.
Hodge’s was a vital knock too. Here was a man playing just his third international since making a comeback after six years and he had gone into the game knowing that there was a toss-up between him and Cameron White for one place.
White was dropped despite showing some excellent form in the T20Is against England and Hodge needed to do something to retain his place in the side.
An eight-ball 21 in a winning cause should have done his confidence a world of good and cemented his spot in the side as a finisher for now.
It will be interesting to see if South Africa look to change their bowling around a little. It was said that Dale Steyn would be fit for this game but the big question staring down South Africa’s face is whether it would be worth taking that risk.
They did not play Morne Morkel in the second T20I either, and an inexperienced duo of Kyle Abbott and Beuran Hendricks joined Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Wayne Parnell in the bowling department.
The other option South Africa do have is to bring in Imran Tahir but a lot will depend on the conditions yet again. They get a slippery and moist outfield, the chances of playing an extra spinner – a wrist spinner at that – may not be the smartest move around.
With this being the last time they play an international before moving on to the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh, the two sides will not only hope for good weather but also hunt for some momentum and get the rightful combination under their belt going into that event.
Join me for this third and the final T20I on Friday and you can follow the live score of this game from 3am AEDT and post your comments below.
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