With the series tied at 1-1, it’s a lot to play for when Australia and South Africa meet in the third ODI of their series on Wednesday.
An Overview:
What a difference a matter of a couple of days can make.
Australia had won the first game on a day when fortunes fluctuated for both teams. The two sides went from poor to good and everything in between before Australia managed to have the last laugh as they defended 300.
However, South Africa came back strongly in the second ODI. The bowling was immaculate and their fielding, which had been conspicuous by its absence in the opener, was back to its razor-sharp best.
Morne Morkel was at his lethal best, Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander played supporting actors to perfection and even a part-timer in Farhaan Behardien was hard to get away as Australia were almost always in a rebuild mode.
Left with not too much to chase down, the South African batsmen did give their fans bit of a scare when they kept losing wickets at regular intervals but AB de Villiers and David Miller saw them through to a three-wicket win.
Their aggression during the chase meant they were left with more than 22 overs to face when the win finally came.
What was particularly heartening to see in that second game from the South African perspective was that they came out really hard. Skipper de Villiers wasn’t averse to taking the tough call of opening the bowling with Morkel and dropping Steyn to first-change and there’s nothing more difficult to endure than a couple of charged-up bowlers.
Team News:
Australia have decided to change things around a tad and it’s mostly done with the India Tests and the World Cup in view.
Mitchell Johnson has been afforded a break to allow him to recharge before the opening India Test on December 4, and Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins have been brought in.
Cummins had a decent showing in the Twenty20series where he looked to have gotten his rhythm back and bowled almost every brand of delivery at will.
What needs to be seen, if he is selected in the XI, is whether he can survive 10 overs of bowling without breaking down.
Nathan Coulter-Nile, man-of-the-match in the first ODI, was thrashed for 54 runs from his six overs in the second. On the other hand, Josh Hazlewood had a poor first game but came back strongly to capture five wickets on Sunday. The question that the selectors will need to answer is whether both of them need to be given another opportunity at Canberra.
Of course, Michael Clarke has been ruled out of this series at the very least and George Bailey will continue to lead in his place.
South Africa may have won the previous game but that was after they took a calculated gamble in dropping their fifth bowler – all-rounder Ryan McLaren – and getting Behardien to bowl his overs. Will they want to do that again at Canberra?
The other thing to look out for them is that Johnson has been McLaren’s nemesis with the bat but with the fierce Aussie bowler out for the rest of the series, do the selectors bring McLaren back?
No other change is expected unless de Villiers and co. want to try out faces like Kyle Abbott, Robin Peterson and Wayne Parnell in the lead-up to the World Cup.
The Track Tale:
Three ODIs have been played at the Manuka Oval with Australia having played just one of them – in 2013 against West Indies. That third game was a high-scoring one with Australia helped along to 329 in their 50 overs by Shane Watson’s 122. West Indies replied with a fighting 290.
Interestingly, with the matches at the WACA in Perth being played in front of just 9k and 10k spectators respectively, there is every chance that the Manuka Oval will have more people sitting in the stands for this one. Its official capacity is around 13k and it is expected to be a sellout.
With the Manuka Oval hosting three matches during the World Cup next year as well and hoping to get a regular place in the Australian international calendar, it will behoove them to prepare a pitch that ensures it’s a good pitch to bat on. Expect a high-scoring encounter again and the batsmen to come to the fore here.
Match Details
Venue: Manuka Oval, Canberra
Date: November 19
Start time: 2.20pm (AEDT)
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