New Zealand will fancy breaking their 35-year drought in Australia this month after the Aussies last night slumped to another ODI loss against South Africa – their sixth defeat in their past seven matches.
SA have recorded easy wins in the first two ODIs against Australia, who next week face an in-form New Zealand desperate to win their first series in Australia in any format since 1985.
Australia built scorching form in ODIs last year, at one stage winning 15 out of 16 matches as they claimed series in India and the UAE before charging towards the semi-finals of the World Cup.
Then South Africa narrowly defeated them in their final World Cup group game, kickstarting their current slump.
Australia promptly turned in their worst performance of the Cup in the semi-final against England, lost their next ODI series 1-2 in India and are now down 0-2 in SA.
The undermanned Proteas – missing star quick Kagiso Rabada and in-form ODI batsmen Faf du Plessis and Rassie van der Dussen – have made light work of the Aussies in this series. Their bowlers have been impressively disciplined while their inexperienced batting lineup has exceeded expectations.
In both matches Australia were in strong positions with the bat and then lost momentum. In the first ODI they were 2-133 and looked on course to chase a very gettable total of 292 before their middle order subsided. Last night Australia were on target for 300-plus when they moved to 4-224 with 8.3 overs remaining.
Then they collapsed, losing 6-47 to end up with a sub-par total of 271. D’Arcy Short (69), Aaron Finch (69), Mitch Marsh (36) and David Warner (35) each failed to kick on and make a match-shaping score.
Australia are through to the Cricket World Cup semi-finals after a win against the old enemy at Lord’s. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
In just his second ODI, Janneman Malan had no such trouble, steering the Proteas chase calmly with 129* from 139 balls.
Australia’s attack was solid but it wasn’t able to create significant scoreboard pressure due to the undersized total.
They gave the tourists a chance by reducing SA to 4-187 in the 39th over, leaving the hosts needing 87 from 69 balls to win. But Malan and David Miller (37* from 29 balls) finished the match in clinical fashion.
As they prepare to head across the Tasman, New Zealand must be thinking this is their best opportunity in a long time to finally win a series in Australia.
The Kiwis are fresh from a 2-0 Test thumping of India, preceded by a 3-0 victory in the ODI series against India, the number two ranked team in the world. NZ are ranked third in ODIs and would be the current World Cup champions if not for some extraordinarily bad luck in the dying moments of the final against England.
The Kiwis will tackle an Australian side which is flying in T20Is and Tests, but has hit the skids in ODIs.
Australia’s middle order continues to be their pressure point. At number four, Marnus Labuschagne is yet to find his feet in this format.
The same goes for D’Arcy Short, who so far has batted in four different positions across his six career ODIs – opener, three, five and seven.
Behind that pair Mitch Marsh and Alex Carey are searching for touch. This is heaping pressure on the top three of Finch, Warner and Steve Smith.
Australia will need that middle order to improve in Potchefstroom on Saturday if they are to avoid a cleansweep in this ODI series.
Soap Dodger
Roar Rookie
As someone has just commented on Cricinfo during the latest humiliating loss today, the Black Caps simply have a "mental block" about playing Australia. The drought mentioned in the headline will continue for so long as the Black Caps regard themselves as markedly inferior to the Australian cricket team. They should be sent to a "sports psychologist" or something.
Republican
Guest
......mmm, I wonder if you would use that rationale if shoe was on tother foot?
Republican
Guest
......I reckon your mob have the talent to account for our mob, even on our turf. Good luck to you.
Republican
Guest
.....to be sure.
Micko
Roar Rookie
NZ is T20's.
peter chrisp
Guest
For memory there are 6 games 3 in Australia & 3 in New Zealand?
Simon
Guest
Handscomb was our most complete middle order Odi Batsmen in 2019, you just weren’t watching. It’s only our middle order that needs fixing, and Marsh would be a fantastic number 7
Micko
Roar Rookie
I remember you guys smashed us one year, but you lost the Tri-Series Final against South Africa. I think NZ beat Australia in every game they played in that ODI series?
Targa
Roar Rookie
And then the teams fly across the Tasman for some NZ-Aus T20s to finish the "summer".
Republican
Guest
......it's all in the name - 'Marsh'.
Republican
Guest
.......works both ways.
Republican
Guest
.......heaps of rain here recently, so perhaps conditions will be unusually similar to sodden NZ?
Republican
Guest
.......will he be rendered incapacitated? Talls have weak backs, to be sure.
Republican
Guest
.......concur.
Republican
Guest
......while we did defeat NZ in the the WC I believe. Fickle game Cricket.
Republican
Guest
......I reckon home ground remains a significant advantage in any version of the game. That said Australia struggle in ODI, while playing in Oz is a home away from home experience for Nz'ers in all sport. They are very familiar with the conditions in Oz and derive much greater support numbers than we do on their turf. NZ should win the ODI series I reckon.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
True in part, though as Ricciardo points out they do hold the ODI trophy. and they’ve done much better against us in ODI series than in Test series.
qwetzen
Roar Rookie
JamesH: And Starcs' stats since the WC are; 7 matches ,66.5 O, 0 maidens, 9w @ 49, sr 6.63. And yet some people are fixated on the middle order...
badmanners
Roar Rookie
But they didn't beat New Zealand. They hold the title it's on the mug. But they in my eyes are not "worthy" winners, just the winners as they ended up with the title.
jose
Roar Rookie
The rule thing is not England's problem, but ICC's. Ideally the rule should have been who finished higher on the ladder. New Zealand sneaked into the Semi's just because of the rained league match against India. I agree that NZ were robbed off the title with that over throw and silly boundary count back rule. But that doesnt take any credit away from the England - they beat both India and Australia convincingly and according to me, they deserved to win the title.