Australia and South Africa move on to Adelaide for the second One Day International, the game gets underway in the early hours of Friday morning and the Proteas find themselves 1-0 up in the series with two matches to play.
Australia went off reasonably firm favourites for the first ODI which was staged in Perth on Sunday but they never really put themselves in the contest and South Africa cruised to a 6 wicket victory.
The Proteas won the toss and opted to bowl first and that decision quickly paid off. After 5.5 overs the Aussies were 3 wickets down with just 8 runs on the board as Steyn and Ngidi did the early damage. Wickets continued to tumble with the only resistance coming from wicketkeeper Carey who made 33 and number 9 bat Coulter Nile who top scored with 34. In an apology of an innings Australia were all out for 152 in just 38.1 overs. Phehlukwayo took 3 wickets and there were 2 wickets a piece for Steyn, Ngidi and Tahir. Rabada didn’t take a wicket and Steyn was the most economical of the SA bowlers with his 7 overs costing just 18 runs.
South African openers de Kock (47) and Hendricks (44) put on 94 for the first wicket. Markram added 36 and although they lost 4 wickets in total, the result was evident a long way out. The chase was completed in 29.2 overs and the Aussies need a win here to take the series to a decider in Hobart on Sunday.
Recent Head to Head
Overall the teams have met in 97 ODI’s with Australia winning 47, South Africa 46 with 3 ties and 1 no result.
On home soil the Aussies have won 18, South Africa 18 and we have seen 1 tie.
Recent Series Results
Sep / Oct 2016 in South Africa, South Africa won 5-0 (5 matches)
Jun 2016 Tri Series in West Indies, 3 head to heads, 1 win for South Africa, 1 win for Australia, 1 no result
Nov 2014 in Australia, Australia won 4-1 (5 matches)
Betting
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Match Result
Australia 8/10
South Africa even money
Note odds quoted are an average of what is available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
The Verdict:
Faf du Plessis was only needed to bat at the death on Sunday but despite a decent showing from the Proteas openers the skipper still looks worth following in the top SA bat market to me.
With less confidence I’ll chance my arm with Finch in the top Aus bat market, mainly as they need the new skipper in this format to come out fighting with confidence in their batting order seemingly brittle.
Bets: Top Aus bat Finch at 28/10
Top SA bat Faf du Plessis at 4/1
Remember you can have your own say on all this week’s matches on our discussion forum
