Bavuma and Miller smash centuries in second ODI
Australia batters fall 32 runs short despite strong start
Temba Bavuma and David Miller both struck centuries as South Africa defeated Australia by 32 runs in the second one-day international in Johannesburg, securing victory in the three-match series with a game to spare.
Australia sent their hosts in to bat and South Africa amassed 365 for nine in their 50 overs, before bowling the visitors out for 333 in 49.5 overs to win a high-scoring encounter. The Proteas continued their recent dominance over their rivals with a 19th ODI win in their last 25 meetings.
The visitors were again undone by spin in the middle of the innings after a fast start to their reply as South Africa took an unassailable 2-0 series lead. Australia were not helped by the continued absence of seamer Pat Cummins, and a side strain suffered by Nathan Ellis in the match that meant he bowled only four overs.
“It’s really disappointing,” the Australia captain Mitch Marsh said. “We came here determined to level the series at 1-1 and take it into the final game, but fair play to South Africa. I thought they played really well and outplayed us again.
“We just want to keep improving,” Marsh added. “We certainly don’t want to be whitewashed, so we’ll go to Potchefstroom determined to win that final game and play some good cricket.”
Bavuma scored his 103 from 116 balls for his sixth ODI century while Miller was more explosive. He smashed nine sixes in his 142 from 93 balls, clearing the ropes with ease as he struck his career-best score and eighth ODI ton. Matthew Breetzke added 34 off 28 balls, with Duan Jansen ending on 27 not out.
Jack Edwards, playing in his second ODI, was the pick of the Australia bowlers with five for 67 in 10 overs, including the wickets of Bavuma and Miller. Josh Hazlewood had earlier dismissed openers Aiden Markram (for a duck) and Quinton de Kock (15).
In a carbon copy of Thursday’s 67-run win for South Africa in Durban, Australia made a lightning start to their reply. Marsh (84 from 53 balls) and Travis Head (84 from 76 balls) put on 130 in 17 overs for the first wicket, but the middle order struggled and South Africa’s three spinners tightened the screw.
Keshav Maharaj (2-54), Bjorn Fortuin (2-70) and Markram (1-55) were all effective in their 10 overs. Markram dislodged Head lbw before Maharaj removed Alex Carey (17) and Matt Renshaw (32), both lbw. Xavier Bartlett kept Australia in the game with a fine 50 runs from 28 deliveries but ran out of support.
From the 30th over to the 40th, Australia managed 37 runs in Durban and just 35 on an excellent batting wicket in Johannesburg. “It’s certainly an area where we need to improve and we’re well aware of that,” Marsh said.
“I thought we set up our innings really well in both games but we haven’t been able to execute during those middle phases. It’s a great learning curve, especially for some of our younger players. But you also have to give South Africa full credit for the way they’ve bowled during those periods.“
“It was another really good all-round team performance,” the Proteas captain Bavuma said. “It started with the bat. Conditions were a little tricky up front but we managed to get through that period and build towards a good total. David [Miller] played an unbelievable innings and then the bowlers did their job as well.”
The final match of the white-ball series is in Potchefstroom on Wednesday, before a three-Test series begins in Durban on 9 October.
