Australia’s extraordinary ODI slump continued yesterday as they were hammered by South Africa, leaving them with just three wins from their past 20 completed matches.
An error-riddled batting performance was followed by an undisciplined bowling display as Australia lost by six wickets to the impressive Proteas.
Australia still has seven months to turn things around before starting their World Cup defence but, on the evidence of yesterday’s inept performance, they are a long way from becoming an elite ODI side once more.
South Africa’s commanding pace attack made the most of fantastic conditions for fast bowlers on a pitch which offered extremes of pace and bounce, coupled with generous seam movement.
The first 11.5 overs delivered by South Africa were as supreme as you’re ever likely to see in an ODI. They were impeccably accurate, blanketing the Australian batsmen.
The first genuinely loose ball, which also produced Australia’s opening boundary, incredibly did not appear until the final delivery of the 12th over when Chris Lynn on-drove a full toss from Kagiso Rabada.
Rabada may be the world’s best fast bowler but yesterday he was outshone by pace colleagues Dale Steyn (2-18), Lungi Ngidi (2-26) and Andile Phehlukwayo (3-33). Cricket fans worldwide would have been heartened at the sight of Steyn galloping in at full pace.
One of the greatest cricketers of all time, the 35-year-old has missed a ton of cricket over the past two years due to injury but was brilliant yesterday. Steyn pushed the speed gun to 144kmh and earned lovely shape, even in his second spell with an older ball. Yet both of his wickets were gifted to him by Australian batsmen displaying leaden footwork.
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First Travis Head stood rooted to the crease and threw his hands at a wide, full delivery from Steyn, offering an easy catch to ‘keeper Quinton de Kock.
Two balls later first drop D’Arcy Short departed in near-identical fashion, with the only difference being that his edge landed in the hands of second slip. Australia were 2-4 and in need of a stabilising stand.
Not satisfied with two self-inflicted wounds, Australia plunged deeper into crisis when new skipper Aaron Finch inexplicably failed to review an LBW decision which always looked to be going over the stumps on a trampoline-style pitch.
D’Arcy Short. (GEOFF CADDICK/AFP/Getty Images)
After the first Powerplay, Australia were left in tatters at 3-19. Then a trio of loose shots from big hitters Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis put paid to any hope of Australia scraping to a competitive score of 220-plus.
At 6-66 Australia looked in danger of being rolled for under 100. They managed to edge to 152 thanks to a patient knock from ‘keeper Alex Carey (33 from 71 balls) and a belligerent one from quick Nathan Coulter-Nile (34 from 31 balls).
The home side’s sequence of brain-fades continued when Finch strangely chose not to give the new ball to Mitchell Starc, Australia’s best ODI bowler.
Instead that honour was handed to Coulter-Nile, who promptly released all pressure on the South African openers by bleeding 16 runs off his first over. In contrast to the precise efforts of the Proteas’ attack, the Australian bowlers badly lacked consistency. The odd testing delivery was mixed in with a liberal dose of garbage.
The only Aussie frontline bowler who performed at something approaching their best was Pat Cummins. The 25-year-old delivered several vicious short balls and beat the bat time and again, but had no luck.
Pat Cummins bowls for Australia. (AFP PHOTO / THEO KARANIKOS)
Australia will need a lift from star quicks Starc and Hazlewood if they are to challenge this South African batting lineup. Meanwhile, the home batsmen look set to have a torrid time trying to combat the Proteas’ elite attack. Australia’s ODI slump shows no signs of ending.
john
Guest
Abbas was man of the match, pacer averaging less than what the best of all time dd in Dubai. No excuses!
john
Guest
all the more reason for SA to win in perth again, they havent lost a test in perth since 2001, winning 3 times and drawing once since then
CricGuru
Guest
Honestly, any Australian cricketer need only compare him/herself (in the case of Glen Maxwell, who mould not look out of place in a under 16's netball side,) with Steve Waugh or Mark Taylor, who regularly bled Aussie green and gold. Today's announcement about Mark Taylor standing down, citing stress due to negotiations with the ACA is typical of the unrelenting pressure applied by that unrepresentative body. This so-called cricket association cares nothing for the grass-roots cricket that underpins it, and seeks only to further the deification of its members.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Being the highest runscorer in the country over the past three Shield seasons is "not enough"? I'm not pushing for Harris to be in the side but he's done way more to deserve selection than the likes of Labuschagne and Mitch Marsh, or other guys getting a strong Test push from the public like Lehmann and Cooper.
anon
Roar Pro
The result was the outcome you'd expect when you have PROFESSIONAL athletes internalising hollow slogans like "elite honesty" rather than focusing on their JOB which is WINNING. That is their priority. You want to give selection precedence to players who are "good blokes" (basically gets along well with the hierarchy and doesn't challenge them) rather than those who accumulate runs and wickets, go coach a charity side, go coach some cliquey grade cricket side. You can play to win but not resort to cheating and abusing the opposition. Time for Langer to get back to the business of winning. All these hollow slogans are allowing Langer to distract everyone from his appalling coaching record thus far.
Zavjalova
Roar Rookie
What an embarrassment! Bring back Warner and Smith
qwetzen
Roar Rookie
But oddly, not a decent, well respected Oz captain since Woodfull.
JamesH
Roar Guru
Atrocious roads are probably good practice for this test summer.
JamesH
Roar Guru
Apart from Khawaja, who seems to be either opening or out injured, I'd say Ferguson is just about our best bet at number 3. For starters, he actually bats there domestically, where he has averaged around 50 for two of the last three seasons (the other season was the one in which he was brutally discarded from the test side, which clearly affected his form). He also has international experience and has weathered all sorts of ups and downs in his career. I don't see many other options, to be honest. Shaun Marsh or Joe Burns are the only ones who have really earned it at any point over the last 12 months. We have this weird situation with too many top order batsmen in our limited overs sides and not enough in the test squad.
john
Guest
the funny thing is that starc was player of the tournament in the 2015 wc. Where is he now?
john
Guest
why are there so many comments about discrediting SA bowling? Sa have lost 2 competitive games in perth for the last 20 years, and haven’t lost a test in perth since 2001. Look at the facts, since 2008, SA's bowling attack single handedly won them 3 test tours here, not even Sir Viv’s windies did that. Vernon Philander bowls at 120k, he outbowled starc ( @150K) in 2016 to be man of the series. Rabada had only played 10 tests, steyn was injured. Hazelwood, Starc and cummins were hailed as the best test bowling attack in the world. Smith, Warner, Khwaja had 10000 runs combined, while SA had no AB devilliers and Amla was out of form. Steyn is 36 years old. He has had numerous injuries, yet still matches the pace of a 25 year old, bowling ball after ball at 140 odd kmph. Ngidi and Rabada are still new to cricket. Steyn, Ngidi have less wickets and matches than starc, hazelwood and cummins combined, yet they still outbowled Australia’s attack
JoM
Roar Rookie
We need to get McDermott back somehow as bowling coach and get rid of Saker.
JoM
Roar Rookie
Ah, must have been the 2nd XI I was thinking of and not shield
Rellum
Roar Guru
700 runs is not enough and neither is averaging 41 over that time. He needs to score more than 800 this year to be in with a shout and averaging over 45 at least if he wants to be on the Ashes plane. Lets be honest, those numbers only look passable based on the other options in and around the team.
DAR
Guest
All credit to Victoria. Maybe it is because the are picking their best 11 players based on form at both grade and FC level rather than discarding older players due to age alone and selecting on ‘potential’ like a lot of other states. It really does look like men against boys at the moment. Let’s hope all states start doing this, then and only then will we start to again produce resilient, resourceful and tough cricketers and Australian cricket will start to recover. They are treating the Shield, grade cricket and their players with the respect they deserve.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Rellum, no one has scored more runs than Harris across the past 3 Shield seasons. These are Harris' last three Shield seasons: - 808 runs at 42 - 706 runs at 41 - 348 runs at 116 TOTAL - 1,862 runs at 48
Rellum
Roar Guru
It shouldn't. But you need to show firm over a long period, not two games. Those who think Harris should be in the team because of a good score or two should be going cold on him now for a failure based on their stated philosophy. If Harris puts up consistant runs then you should consider him. He hasn't set the world on fire so far in his career so for mine he needs to score 800+ runs for this season and next.
JD St George
Roar Pro
How can only one or two bad innings say goodbye to your selection then?
Simoc
Guest
That's the only change I see. If Khawaja is fit he slots back into opening, Renshaw at 3 and Cummins and Hazelwood return. Labuschagne, Holland, Siddle out.
Brasstax
Guest
What's with the uncalled for aggression? I was just expressing my opinion.