The wash-up
History will record this game as a narrow win to South Africa but they really gave Australia a touch-up at various points of the contest.
The home side was almost ludicrously irresponsible with the bat but even if they hadn’t offered up many of their wickets in wasteful fashion, Morne Morkel still bowled wonderfully well on a lively Waca surface. The lanky Protea extracted everything he could from the pitch and bowled a perfect “Waca line” throughout, finishing with 5-21 from 8 bouncy, rib-probing overs.
The only Australian batsman who can hold his head high was one of its least experienced, Mitch Marsh. His patient 67 spared his teammates even worse blushes. Again AB de Villiers arrived at the crease too late for the liking of many of us but while he was here, his side never looked like losing. His 48 and Rilee Rossouw’s 30 were highlights of a stuttering South African chase, one that always promised to be so given the pitch conditions and the mental hurdle such small totals often present.
With 5-31 from 9.4 overs, Josh Hazlewood probably bowled himself into Test selection discussions, though you’d have to apply a bit of a caveat given the assistance the pitch gave him. Mitchell Johnson was occasionally scary but also too expensive for the match situation.
So that leaves us tied up at 1-1 heading into Wednesday’s clash at Manuka, one we’ll also be covering via the OBO. Make sure you join us then and thanks for your company today.
Only the formalities remain.
.@mornemorkel65 is awarded MoM for his career-best figures of 5/21 #AusvSA pic.twitter.com/dWpITl0bFu
— ICC (@ICC) November 16, 2014
Updated
SOUTH AFRICA WIN BY 3 WICKETS!
Dale Steyn has had enough of this Hazlewood business so steps back and flat-bat slogs him over mid-off to bring up the Proteas win. The South African fast bowler pumps his fist with no small amount of feeling, as he does in virtually every cricket (and probably non-cricket) scenario.
Dale Steyn would fist-pump at the supermarket counter, wouldn’t he?
Updated
WICKET! Philander c Johnson b Hazlewood 0 (South Africa 153-7)
Two runs are needed from 23 overs, which are the kind of odds you fancy as a batting side. Vernon Philander is thus on a hiding to nothing when he faces up to Hazlewood and it ends badly when he fends off a throat ball and gets caught at deep gully. That is despite the best efforts of a clearly-bored Dave Warner to disrupt Johnson from taking the catch. That puts Hazlewood on his second hat-trick of the game and gives him 5 spirit-lifting wickets. Is he a chance for Brisbane? Slats thinks so.
27th over: South Africa 153-6 (Miller 22, Philander 0)
A little more air is released from the balloon when Coulter-Nile is crunched for an emphatic boundary from Miller’s straight blade, then two more to go with it, then another two, then another four through cover.
Half volleys are something of a cinch for Miller, it would appear.
26th over: South Africa 141-6 (Miller 10, Philander 0)
The wicket of de Villiers finished the over, removing the chance of Hazlewood immediately firing away at Philander.
WICKET! AB de Villiers c Wade b Hazlewood 48 (South Africa 141-6)
Just as it appeared as though Australia’s only remaining hope was a natural disaster, de Villiers runs down the track at Hazlewood and nicks an outside edge into Wade’s gloves. South Africa should still get over the line, but this at least makes it a little bit interesting.
25th over: South Africa 139-5 (de Villiers 47, Miller 9)
Mitchell Johnson has a short leg and a leg gully in place to Miller, but what he really needs is a pair of stilts for Matthew Wade because there’s no other way the Aussie keeper can be expected to reel in bouncers like the one that ballooned away for 5 wides in that over. Not for the first time, the South African batsman absorbs all the pressure and then jabs a straight drive to the boundary from the overs’ final ball. Patience is a virtue.
24th over: South Africa 129-5 (de Villiers 47, Miller 5)
With this game now seemingly beyond the grasp of Australia, the Nine commentary team has changed its tune a little and started pondering selections for the first Test against India. Having pushed Pat Cummins like crazy during the T20s last week, it appears Josh Hazlewood has now done enough to leapfrog his New South Wales teammate.
It’s been a big 20 munutes in Australian cricket, you see.
23rd over: South Africa 128-5 (de Villiers 47, Miller 4)
The new man Miller decides it’s best to glance a single from Johnson’s first delivery and get off strike and in doing so gets off the mark. He was terrific on Friday night, Miller, and his side well on track for victory before he perished.
Meanwhile, Perth sports fans are more willing to support NBL’s Wildcats than ODI cricket. Sad times for lovers of this pitch and the WA timezone.
Extremely disappointing crowd of 11,000 at the WACA for AUS v RSA. #2 & 3 in the world in perfect conditions. Very poor showing.
— Glenn Mitchell (@MitchellGlenn) November 16, 2014
22nd over: South Africa 122-5 (de Villiers 46, Miller 0)
When you’re defending a meagre total and your strategy is to bowl short on a bouncy deck, you’ll always live or die by the sword. Hazlewood brought Australia back into the match in his last over but de Villiers’ edged hook to start this one crashes into the fine leg fence rather than Matthew Wade’s gloves.
Channeling Spike Lee, Mark Nicholas says of de Villiers, “He’s got some game, this guy.”
21st over: South Africa 116-5 (de Villiers 40, Miller 0)
The only way that de Villiers will get out here is if he gets himself out and to the first ball of Johnson’s over he nearly does so with a wild swipe at a wide, short one. Worse for de Villiers is a slower bouncer that follows, one he attempts to pull but instead bottom-edges straight into his rib-cage. Ouch.
The speedo says 138kmph, but Johnson is slinging them down at what seems a far more rapid velocity.
20th over: South Africa 113-5 (de Villiers 38, Miller 0)
After probably thinking he was good to take an early shower, David Miller appears at the crease with 42 runs still to get for his side and squeaky bums aplenty back in the sheds. He survives the rest of Hazlewood’s over, which is a double-wicket maiden.
WICKET! Behardien c Warner b Hazlewood 0 (South Africa 113-5)
Hazlewood is on a hat-trick! Again it’s a short ball and this time Behardien jumps around nervously and feathers it in tame fashion to Warner at gully. What a bowling change from Bailey and Australia.
WICKET! du Plessis c Wade b Hazlewood 19 (South Africa 113-4)
Maybe there is a glimmer of hope. Reintroduced at the expensive of Maxwell, Hazlewood digs one in characteristically short and another South African batsman falls for the ploy when du Plessis swishes at it with hard hands and top-edges through to Wade behind the wicket.
19th over: South Africa 113-3 (Du Plessis 19, de Villiers 38)
In lieu of a bullpen, Nathan Coulter-Nile is sent to the outfield to cool his heels but his replacement, Mitchell Johsnon, fares no better when he’s deposited for a trio of boundaries by the raging AB de Villiers.
What’s scary about de Villiers’ form right now, heading into the World Cup, is that not only is his stroke-play as inventive and effective as ever, but he just rarely looks like he’s going to get out. Australia had to run him out on Friday, in fact. There’s a lesson there.
18th over: South Africa 102-3 (Du Plessis 19, de Villiers 26)
Glenn Maxwell’s handlebar moustache, it’s fair to say, appears to be having the opposite effect on his performances as Mitchell Johnson’s did last summer. He’s looking less and less likely of taking another wicket with each successful ball here, and that’s to go with his second-ball globe from earlier.
Updated
17th over: South Africa 97-3 (Du Plessis 19, de Villiers 23)
Welcome back to earth, Nathan Coulter-Nile. Friday’s man-of-the-match is copping it from de Villiers to start his fifth over. The Protea blasts him for a pair of majestic cover-driven boundaries, the second of which pierces a gap not actually noticeable to the human eye.
AB de Villiers is not human.
Faf du Plessis might just be a cyborg. Either way he clubs Coulter-Nile for another four down to long-on and the Aussies are staring at an abyss.
Updated
16th over: South Africa 84-3 (Du Plessis 15, de Villiers 14)
After the manic happenings (14 runs, 1 wicket) of his last over, Maxwell proceeds in more frugal and regulation fashion by conceding just a pair of singles from his tidy follow-up. He’s drifting it in but not spinning it a lot. The game, meanwhile, is drifting away from Australia the longer this pair occupy the crease.
15th over: South Africa 82-3 (Du Plessis 14, de Villiers 13)
Attack is the best form of defence for AB de Villiers so he’s immediately getting stuck into Coulter-Nile by pulling a four that would have looked risky, ungainly and even ugly if executed by a mere mortal, yet from his bat just seems entirely justifiable and even pragmatic.
Even without the overthrows Australia then offer, de Villiers looks like he wants to get on with it and have an early drink. This could be fun for the next half hour but expect to see the return of Mitchell Johnson before the game has totally slipped away for Australia.
14th over: South Africa 76-3 (Du Plessis 14, de Villiers 7)
AB de Villiers appears and rather cheekily plays a Glenn Maxwell-esque trick shot through the vacant slip area to outfox Glenn Maxwell himself. Maxwell then fires four wides down the leg side, further proving that mad and unpredictable things will always happen when he’s involved in the game.
That wide allows de Villiers to offer up an additional wicket chance when he almost punts it down the throat of Finch at long-on. He survives the most action-packed over of the day.
WICKET! R0ssouw c Smith b Maxwell 30 (South Africa 64-3)
Not without merit, Bailey decides it’s time to give Glenn Maxwell a shot at jagging a wicket with his flat, slog-begging off-spin. He starts with a wide but then repays Bailey’s faith in spades, tempting Rossouw forward into a lavish drive, which he edges through to Steve Smith at slip. Is there life in the Aussies yet? Cyclone AB is on the way...
13th over: South Africa 62-2 (Du Plessis 13, Rossouw 30)
Nathan Coulter-Nile is perhaps getting a little too excited by the bounce and pace in his home deck and thus overdoing the short stuff a little. When he gets it through the corridor of uncertainty he’s a wicket-taking threat but too much in this over can be left and in one instance, allowed to be called a wide.
Rossouw is patient throughout all of this and beautifully leans into the penultimate delivery of the over to caress his drive through cover for a boundary. You can’t help but see that as slightly symbolic of what was wrong with Australia’s batting - all cross-batted slogs and risky lofted drives. It’s Rossuow who is looking more like a local and he’s quickly taking this game away.
12th over: South Africa 56-2 (Du Plessis 13, Rossouw 26)
In quite a predictable development, Hazlewood is given a spell by Bailey, who throws the ball to Mitchell Marsh. This prompts a couple of questions to start with; Marsh is rumoured to have tweaked a hamstring compiling his excellent half-century but must be right to bowl and secondly, you wonder whether he’ll have any more penetration than on Friday - and indeed the UAE - when his remodeled mediums looked a little underdone.
Here Marsh cuts one in off the seam to rap du Plessis on the pads, but it’s fairly tame stuff again otherwise. You can understand his reluctance to really let it fly given the injury issues he’s had in the past, but I’m not sure he does enough in the air or of the pitch to be a genuine fourth bowler. Time will tell, I guess.
11th over: South Africa 52-2 (Du Plessis 11, Rossouw 25)
Following that reversed verdict on the du Plessis LBW, the same batsman almost perishes when he hooks towards fine leg but the cricket Gods are smiling on him today.
Not Out! - missing leg stump
So du Plessis lives to fight another day and to be fair it was missing the leg stump by some margin.
REVIEW! - du Plessis falls LBW to Coulter-Nile but thinks he's safe
Perhaps he thinks he got bat on it but replays say that’s doubtful.
10th over: South Africa 48-2 (Du Plessis 9, Rossouw 23)
Josh Hazlewood was bowling well in his first four overs. Not Morne Morkel well, but certainly far better than he fared in the first game. That changes a bit in this over when he’s the victim of cracking cover drive to the boundary from Rossouw when he overpitches. Hazlewood is asking questions of the Proteas, but Rossouw pounds him for a mirror image of that cover drive earlier in the over to answer them quite emphatically.
9th over: South Africa 39-2 (Du Plessis 8, Rossouw 15)
Rod Marsh appears now to chat with Nine’s Ian Healy and is giving the general impression that he doesn’t really love his job as chairman of the national selection panel. He says a lot without really saying anything (“I really don’t know” - really Bacchus???) about selection for Brisbane.
Meanwhile, Nathan Coulter-Nile takes the ball from Johnson and gets creamed for a lovely pair of boundaries by Rilee Rossouw, one a textbook straight drive and the other a crisp clip off the pads though mid-wicket. He makes it three in a row with a streaky edge through gully. All, needless to say, are very handy runs in this modest but potentially nervy chase.
8th over: South Africa 26-2 (Du Plessis 7, Rossouw 3)
Unless you havn’t quite mastered the art of deduction, I can can let you in on the fact that AB de Villiers remains hidden at number five (at least) as he did on Friday and to the surprise of many. I’d like to hear from anyone who thinks it makes sense for the best batsman in the world to be batting at five...
7th over: South Africa 22-2 (Du Plessis 4, Rossouw 0)
As Johnson’s over ends, is it unrealistic to hope for that tight finish I alluded to earlier?
South Africa holding AB de Villiers back because they know it's the hope that destroys you. Well, I won't be fooled. #AUSvSA
— Dan Liebke (@LiebCricket) November 16, 2014
WICKET! Amla c Wade b Johnson 10 (South Africa 21-2)
If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I wouldn’t believe it. Just as I was claiming that Amla would learn from his mistake of the first ODI on Friday, he nicks off from the bowling of Johnson in almost identical fashion to his other dismissal. Amla crouched down and tried to flick it over the slips with a cross-bat flourish and succeeded only in sending an edge through to Matthew Wade.
6th over: South Africa 20-1 (Amla 10, du Plessis 4)
Taking his cues from Johnson, Hazlewood is not giving Amla much in his own half of the pitch and starts this over with a rip-snorting bouncer to get the Proteas star ducking and weaving. Hazlewood finishes with a maiden, which is statistically deceptive because he sprayed it all over the pace at genuine speed.
Meanwhile..
. @meglanning7 taking the piss with another classy hundred today. ODI series win. 1 more game to go on Tuesday…. #AusvWI
— Alyssa Healy (@ahealy77) November 16, 2014
5th over: South Africa 20-1 (Amla 10, du Plessis 4)
This is some express pace from Johnson but Amla is doing his best to counter-attack. There are some more awkward moments after the drop but Amla’s jabbed straight drive is lofted high enough over the head of mid-off to run away for three. Even streaky runs are golden today, in fact they’re especially so.
DROPPED! Hashim Amla has been given a lifeline
...by Aaron Finch at slip, who dived but not quickly enough to reel in a catch that was regulation in physical location but took him by surprise in sheer speed. Was he positioned too close? It cannoned through his out-stretched fingers, such is the pace Mitchell Johsnon has worked up. Went for a boundary too, just to rub in the bowlers’ pain.
4th over: South Africa 10-1 (Amla 1, du Plessis 4)
Lovers of WACA wickets of the past, you really need to ignore my ramblings and get near a TV right now. Even Josh Hazlewood, a relative novice in the international fast bowling stakes, is making it bounce and jag around like Joel Garner.
The first ball of his second over lifts with trampoline-lie bounce and also seams away a couple of feet off the deck. A fuller follow-up moves in the air almost as far and the Proteas are suddenly being urged by Nine commentator Mike Hussey to dig in and survive this excellent opening burst of fast, bouncy bowling. Faf du Plessis is having none of that and gets off the mark from theover’s last delivery when he throws the kitchen sink at another short one from Hazlewood. It really flies over the cordon before slamming into the third man boundary.
3rd over: South Africa 6-1 (Amla 1, du Plessis 0)
Now Johnson is getting it to cut in, slicing Amla in half with one of those nightmare deliveries that we used to almost expect on WACA pitches. This might require some adjustment from Amla now because if he can see off Johnson’s 3-4 over bursts, the going will be a little easier against Australia’s second-stringers.
Johnson’s over is a maiden of genuine quality; Amla hopped about, second-guessed the surface and generally looked vulnerable.
2nd over: South Africa 6-1 (Amla 1, du Plessis 0)
That de Kock wicket finished Hazlewood’s over, one in which the right-armer shaped the ball away from Amla nicely and then snared the breakthrough that Australia craved early in the defence of this measly total.
WICKET! Q de Kock c Watson b Hazlewood 4 (South Africa 6-1)
Hazlewood strikes! After tempting Amla forward a number of times he digs one in short to de Kock and gets the left-hander slashing loosely into the cordon, where Shane Watson leaps high and athletically (by his standards) to take a superb catch. Game on?
1st over: South Africa 5-0 (Amla 0, de Kock 4)
Mitchell Johnson grabs the new rock for Australia and cheered on by his home crowd (I know Queenslanders, I know), starts steaming in. Quinton de Kock takes strike for the Proteas and starts well, punching a cover drive of minimal back-lift through the gap for a boundary when Johnson over-pitched.
Johnson is getting appreciable swing away from the left-hander but he’ll also need to move some top order batsmen if Australia can escape with an unlikely win here.
The cricket is back!
Nine are finally done with all the pressing news stories about cartoonists and I’m pretty sure customs found nothing up that Canadian businessman’s Khyber, so we will now resume normal service.
The cricket will start eventually, I swear
But...other than for Nine’s programming requirements was it really necessary to inflict a 50-minute break on us? I’ve nearly forgotten what happened in the Australian innings at this point. Maybe that’s for the best.
Elsewhere in Australian cricket
If you’re sitting at home pondering the current malaise of Australian batting, here’s some food for thought out of today’s Shield action. Joe Burns has made 183 in a day for Queensland (with a bit of a touch-up for Doug Bollinger) and Callum Ferguson (remember him? “The next Aussie skipper” half a decade ago) has brought up his second hundred of the first-class season for South Australia against a handy Victorian attack.
New Western Australian Michael Klinger also brought up three figures again, just for something completely different. My theory is that he thinks the brighter yellow helmet the Warriors use might draw at least a sideways glance from the national selectors.
And better than perhaps all of those, Meg Lanning’s undefeated 135 at better than a run-a-ball helped th Souther Stars to a thumping 8-wicket victory over the West Indies.
“When you are offered the captaincy of Australia you don’t decline it”
There is a lovely little interview with Ian Craig here, if you’re interested.
Some other interesting facts about Craig that aren’t age-related: like Ian Chappell later, he represented his state in baseball; as was the case with a truly amazing amount of sportspeople of the semi-pro days, he was also a pharmacist; in poor form as Aussie skipper on the South African tour of 1957-58, he advocated his own sacking but the selection panel, including Neil Harvey, stuck with him. He never played another Test following that tour.
Sad to hear that former Australian captain Ian Craig has died aged 79. The youngest to play for his state (nsw) at 16 and Australia at 17
— Malcolm Conn (@malcolmconn) November 16, 2014
Some sad news to start with
Once the youngest man to play for his state (NSW) and country, former Australian Test captain Ian Craig has passed away. What a sad thing it is to know that someone so known for being young should have to grow old. The first though certainly not the last batsman to be labelled “the next Bradman”, he was 79.
Hello OBOers and welcome to the South African run chase, which has been made significantly more straightforward on account of Australia’s shambolic batting display. Could none of them other than Marsh and Bailey have knuckled down and shelved the risky, low-percentage strokes after the early tumble of wickets? No?
First some house-keeping; you can get me on russell.jackson@theguardian.com with all your comments and quips. Lowbrow, 140-character asides can be shot at @rustyjacko on Twitter.
Right now our esteemed local broadcaster, Channel Nine, is filling the airtime that Australia’s batsmen should have done with one of those Customs-based reality shows. One bloke has far too many cigarettes and tabbacco and far too few cigarette-rolling skills for the customs officers’ liking and another is suspected of having a significant amount of cocaine stashed...well...I think you know where.
On that note, you’d want to hope for the sake of this contest that the Australian bowlers are on uppers and the South African batesmen on downers heading into this run chase. The best neutrals can hope for here is that we get a low-scoring classic. Tight, low-scoring one-day internationals are, after all, the best kind of one-day internationals. Is a tie too much to ask for?
And thus our time together has been sadly abbreviated. Geoff Lemon signing off, and Russell Jackson will join you shortly for what will also presumably be a shortened stint in the second innings. South Africa have roared back into this series.
Now for some extremely attractive figures from the South Africans.
Morkel 8-0-21-5
Philander 9-2-16-1
Steyn 7.4-1-32-3
Berhadien 8-0-40-1
Tahir 9-0-37-0
Warner 0
Finch 8
Watson 11
Smith 10
Wade 19
Maxwell 0
Johnson 3
Coulter-Nile 0
Can all bat, but none of them did.
Only Bailey’s 25 and Marsh’s excellent and determined 67 had any respectability on the scorecard.
Wellity wellity wellity. That’s some Disaster Zone stuff from Australia - South Africa have swarmed all over them. They’ve caught everything and bowled very tightly, were committed in the field, and Australia looked like an amateur outfit with some of the shots they played.
South Africa need only score 155, at about three an over.
Wicket! Marsh 67 (88 balls), c Morkel b Steyn
41.4 overs : Australia 154 all out (Hazlewood 0*)
Six! Line drive down the ground as Steyn drops short outside off. That copped the lot. The previous ball Marsh was hit in the Jatz crackers after an inside edge, so he took his pain-rage out on the ball. Steyn over-corrects for a wide. Marsh drives to long on but declines the single, but the next ball Steyn goes down leg again, Marsh whips it away, and Morkel at fine leg inside the fielding circle takes a catch to complete the innings.
41st over: Australia 147-9 (Marsh 61, Hazlewood 0)
Six! Tahir comes back on, and Marsh decides it’s time to go. Drags a full ball from outside off, down on one knee, way back into the crowd at wide long-off. Pulls the next one high over square leg, but it bounces and stops, worth only two runs.
40th over: Australia 138-9 (Marsh 52, Hazlewood 0)
Weak, Australia. Just running through the dismissals we have four mid-on catches, two caught down the leg side, one chopped one, and one lbw to the most embarrassing mediums this side of a psychic convention.
Steyn has 2/28, Hazlewood survives four balls to see out the over.
Wicket! Coulter-Nile 2 (10 balls), c du Plessis b Steyn
Another one bites the dust. Steyn back, only bowls two balls before he scores. Coulter-Nile tries to whip to the on side but only gets the leading edge to mid-on - the fourth dismissal there.
Updated
Half century!
39th over: Australia 138-8 (Marsh 52, Coulter-Nile 2)
A rare batting highlight for Australia, as Mitchell Marsh deflects a short ball from Morkel through short fine leg for a boundary. A couple of singles follow, but Morkel is still the man with a five-wicket haul in this ODI.
The Southern Stars have just completed their win against West Indies, with captain Lanning 135 not out.
38th over: Australia 132-8 (Marsh 47, Coulter-Nile 1)
Jebus. Just a single. Philander has now got through nine overs for 16 runs. Sixteen.
37th over: Australia 131-8 (Marsh 46, Coulter-Nile 1)
Nathan Coulter-Nile is a capable batsman, but you don’t want him having to bat out 15 overs. Just Josh Hazlewood to come. They’re in a Powerplay incidentally. Does Marsh hit out, or play safe?
In the meantime, depressed Australians, Meg Lanning has not only raised her ODI century, but moved past her highest score. She has 129 not out.
Wicket! Johnson 3 (7 balls), c de Kock b Morkel
Another wicket for Morne, and another dismissal for de Kock, as Johnson just prods at one with no balance and nicks it simply behind.
36th over: Australia 129-7 (Marsh 45, Johnson 3)
Just three runs from Philander’s over, he’s enjoying the WACA so far.
35th over: Australia 126-7 (Marsh 44, Johnson 1)
It’s all on Marsh now. Telling over from Morkel. Two wickets for just the one run. But what a shocker from Umpire Llong, who just ignores the rules about when a third umpire can overturn, and does so consistently. Demotion time.
Wicket! Maxwell 0 (2 balls), b Morkel
No third umpire in that one, mercifully. Glenn Maxwell had faced only one ball before trying to run one to third man to get off the strike. Instead he edged it into the pitch and back onto his stumps. Australia now officially in disarray.
Wicket. Oh dear. Wade 19 (29 balls), c de Kock b Morkel
Ok. The ball goes very close to the bottom glove but he’s taken it off the handle at the time. Then the ball clips his shirt and makes a noise. Nothing totally conclusive, the batsman should be not out.
Except Nigel Llong, as he did in the Test series against Pakistan, has decided to have a punt from the third umpire’s chair. He’s said it did clip the glove (which was inconclusive) and that the glove was touching the bat handle (which was inconclusive).
That’s another disgraceful decision, and Umpire Llong needs to be sent to ICC re-education camp.
Review!
Just as with Warner, Morkel has a ball down the leg side to a left-hander, Wade jumped like a hooked fish, and the review was immediately called when the umpire said not out.
34th over: Australia 125-5 (Marsh 44, Wade 19)
Ugly swipe from Marsh at a wide ball, missed it by a margin. They settle down to working the singles against Steyn but no one looks especially comfortable. These two batsmen have at least put on 33 and steadied things a bit, but the run rate remains a parlous 3.67, which you’d be a chance of boosting with wickets in hand, but there are only the bottom five to come.
That’s drinks, dig out the ice cubes.
33rd over: Australia 121-5 (Marsh 42, Wade 17)
Here’s our man: Behardien is back. Designer stubble, bald spot you could land a Medivac chopper on, deliveries with the slow wobble of a trifle being carried down stairs. He’s already bowled seven overs and knocked over Shane Watson.
It’s still working: all singles, five of them, another tidy over.
32nd over: Australia 116-5 (Marsh 39, Wade 15)
Dale Steyn is back, that wonderfully fluid, menacing run-up. Five tight balls, one single, then he nearly has Wade from the last - a top-edged cut shot that sliced away barely wide of the slip fieldsman, inches from Amla’s fingers, and then away for four. Whoosh.
31st over: Australia 111-5 (Marsh 38, Wade 11)
A darted single prompts a lengthy third-umpire review for the run out. Direct hit would have had him, but the throw was too wide of the stumps and de Kock had to stretch too far to break the stumps in time. Wade eventually profits by one. Tahir rattles through the rest of his over in about four seconds.
So at this rate, even with wickets intact, Australia will be lucky to get 250. They’ve been hauled back harshly by South Africa after getting away a couple of days ago.
30th over: Australia 108-5 (Marsh 36, Wade 10)
Philander keeping it tight, three singles and a leg bye from the over. In the women’s game against West Indies, Meg Lanning is on the march toward yet another century - currently 77 from 76 balls. She’s really been a level above the rest of the world for the past year or so.
Updated
29th over: Australia 103-5 (Marsh 34, Wade 8)
Tahir still rolling down plenty of googlies to keep them guessing. Three runs from the over, Wade was beaten pretty handily by one ball.
28th over: Australia 100-5 (Marsh 32, Wade 7)
Nice pull shot from Wade, he’s a little feller so it’s not hard to bowl short to him and Philander did. That one beat the field and ran away behind square leg. Philander beats him with the next ball, and tied him down for the previous four. Still pretty tight stuff, mostly line and length. The Aussie hundred is up.
27th over: Australia 96-5 (Marsh 32, Wade 3)
What’s really impressive about South Africa is how they’ve adjusted so quickly. They made obvious mistakes in their first game, but have arrived today so much sharper and better prepared. I’d be fancying them for the World Cup on this showing, though I’m not keen on picking four bowlers. Your thoughts?
Three singles from Tahir’s over. 21 runs from his six thus far.
26th over: Australia 93-5 (Marsh 31, Wade 1)
The South African captain’s bowling changes have worked wonders today. So has Philander’s bowling. He rips past Matthew Wade’s edge second ball, Wade with an ugly diagonal skew of his bat as he came forward. With a single from the last, that’s five overs from Philander, a wicket, and conceding five runs. Impeccable figures.
Wicket! Bailey 25 (45 balls), c de Plessis b Philander
Things have become entirely too calm for de Villiers, who wants to force the pace by reintroducing Vernon Philander.
Bailey narrowly survives an attempt to run that ball down to third man, insteading edging through to the keeper on the bounce. Then the next ball he tries to pull, doesn’t get much of it, and drags it very low to du Plessis who takes it very low to the grass.
25th over: Australia 91-4 (Bailey 25, Marsh 30)
Inventive shot from Bailey! Behardien continuing on that regular line just outside off, but Bailey comes across, gets down on one knee and sweeps him away off that line, through fine leg for four. Then a very wide full toss that would have been called wide had Bailey not chased it, clouting it away for two. That’s a bit more like it. Seven from the over.
Updated
24th over: Australia 84-4 (Bailey 19, Marsh 29)
Marsh takes Tahir for a leg-glanced four, with a couple of singles either side. That raises the 50 partnership from 74 balls. It’s been modest but important.
23rd over: Australia 78-4 (Bailey 18, Marsh 24)
Teeth are reduced to stumps as Behardien pins down Marsh for five consecutive dot balls, very nearly getting a maiden until Marsh squirts one away behind point that beats the fieldsman with an erratic bounce, and goes for two runs.
22nd over: Australia 76-4 (Bailey 18, Marsh 22)
Imran Tahir isn’t bowling the classic leg break very often, with all his variations, but when he does roll one out it looks very good. Just two runs from his over, and 12 from his four so far.
21st over: Australia 74-4 (Bailey 17, Marsh 21)
I tell you what, there is little more frustrating than watching Berhadien roll through overs conceding only a handful of singles. He should be hitting the fence, but they can’t afford to take him on. Anyone got a way for me to get through this sight without grinding my teeth?
20th over: Australia 70-4 (Bailey 15, Marsh 19)
Tahir fooling Bailey with his wrong ‘un, the leggie is lurking. Settling in for a long spell but it’s cheap. Only three singles from the over.
19th over: Australia 67-4 (Bailey 14, Marsh 17)
Behardien has got through his fourth over, gone for only 22 runs and taken a top-order wicket. He’s bowling driveable lengths but they’re only able to take him for singles -five of them in total.
18th over: Australia 62-4 (Bailey 12, Marsh 14)
Tahir too - the South African bowlers are able to settle into their spells, bowl aggressively, and not worry about too many big shots as Australia try to rebuild. Tahir is teasing with a couple of leggies, then zooting through a couple of quicker ones. They get five singles but never looked totally in control.
17th over: Australia 57-4 (Bailey 10, Marsh 11)
Dale Steyn is bowling very nicely. Four overs, 1/19. Just the single from that over, and he was beating the Australians, drawing edges, testing them out.
16th over: Australia 56-4 (Bailey 10, Marsh 10)
Imran Tahir arrives for his first over of the day. He’s on the spot straight away, and just concedes two singles. Can he provide the next blow? This partnership is really Last Chance Saloon for the Aussies, who were lucky to get away with the total they made in Game 1.
15th over: Australia 54-4 (Bailey 9, Marsh 9)
Top cricket that over. Steyn came back, pinned down Marsh with four probing deliveries, then Marsh responded from the last ball of the over by driving square for four through cover point. Top shot.
14th over: Australia 49-4 (Bailey 8, Marsh 5)
Marsh is teasing Morkel, spooning a drive near the field on the off side, then pulling just over Tahir’s head at mid on. Two runs from each but they’re yet to cross 50. Russell Jackson isn’t confident they’ll leave him much work to do.
I'll be live-blogging South Africa's 12-over chase later, if anyone's interested.
— Russell Jackson (@rustyjacko) November 16, 2014
Updated
13th over: Australia 45-4 (Bailey 8, Marsh 1)
Australia profit by nine runs, though Behardien almost had another wicket when Bailey edged past his stumps for three, well saved by a sprawling Morkel. Bailey’s next scoring shot was more convincing, waiting on a slow ball outside off to drive it through covers for four. Nice.
Updated
12th over: Australia 36-4 (Bailey 1, Marsh 1)
Now, is it BAILEY TIME? Or will Bailey struggle to time it? He was dropped five times in making 70 runs the other day. That’s 11.66 runs for each catch he gave up. Australia need him desperately. Mitchell Marsh has emerged to play support.
Just a leg bye, a single and a wide from Morkel’s over, Australia are struggling to beat a run rate of 3.5.
Updated
Wicket! Smith 10 (20 balls), c Tahir b Morkel
Buggeration - real trouble for Australia now. Smith looked in superb touch but he tried to pull a Morkel ball, was undone by the extra bounce, and the ever-reliable hands of Tahir took the skied catch.
11th over: Australia 33-3 (Smith 10, Bailey 1)
After all my talk about Behardien being slog-fodder, he’s got the Australian number three. That’s underwhelming from Watson - trying to work that across the line as it came toward his pad, and he was just done by the lack of pace I think - the shot beat the ball, and the ball was through. Replay suggests it would have been taking most of leg stump. Watson didn’t consider the review.
A nicked single gets Bailey off the mark, before Behardien is bowling one that doesn’t even land on the pitch. So that’s the sort of part-timer we’re dealing with. From the final ball of the over Smith glances him for four - that’s what Watson would have liked to do. Smith looks in beautiful touch.
Wicket! Watson 11 (26 balls), lbw Behardien
Everything de Villiers touches turns to gold. Tries to squeeze some overs out of a part-timer, but Behardien squeezes a ball through Watson’s defences onto his front pad as he pushed forward, and the finger goes up!
10th over: Australia 27-2 (Watson 11, Smith 6)
Morkel is back. A leg bye and a single. On that South African bowling question, they’ll need to get ten overs out of Behardien’s very very medium pace from a man who doesn’t bowl regularly for his province, and some spin from de Villiers and Rossouw, who’ve bowled a combined 13 overs in One-Day Internationals. Du Plessis has bowled leggies in a handful of games but South Africa already have Tahir. Amla and Miller don’t bowl at all.
9th over: Australia 25-2 (Watson 10, Smith 6)
Int-er-est-ing. AB has pounced on this quiet passage of play to try and get some overs out of his very part-time wobbler Farhaan Behardien. The Aussies need to punish South Africa’s part-timers: they’ll have ten overs of trash to take advantage of today. But given the tricky situation, Watson can only score a couple of doubles, not daring to pull out the bigger shots.
8th over: Australia 21-2 (Watson 6, Smith 6)
Philander is continuing this beautiful spell, still moving it around. Watson plays that classic shot of his, the late cut that is so close to his body and his stumps, ruins Philander’s hopes of a third maiden. Just the single.
7th over: Australia 20-2 (Watson 5, Smith 6)
A thick deliberate edge from Smith agains Steyn for two, and then whack -
shades of Smith’s Test century at the WACA against England last summer, as he pulls gloriously along the ground out through midwicket, almost wide mid-on.
6th over: Australia 14-2 (Watson 5, Smith 0)
Philander is alllll over Watson here. Seaming it, beating him. Thumping into the pads, taking edges along the ground into the slips. Two slips in for him. That is Philander’s second maiden, and South Africa have started as they did last time, but pressed on and sealed the deal.
5th over: Australia 14-2 (Watson 5, Smith 0)
That was some over. Steyn came on for the first time today, then second ball Finch clipped him over square leg for a mighty six. Third ball had him out. Fourth, fifth and sixth are defended by Smith.
Wicket! Finch 8 (14 balls), c Morkel b Steyn
Disaster for Australia’s openers today as the other one departs, trying a checked drive against Dale Steyn that nearly cleared Morkel at mid on, but the tallest man on the field was able to stretch up and haul in the chance.
4th over: Australia 7-1 (Finch 2, Watson 4)
A maiden from Philander. South Africa have completely tied down Australia in these opening exchanges. Mind you, they did that in the last match.
Sarah Bacon has emailed in fairly annoyed at my slandering of hamstrings. I refer you to Cat Jones, Sarah.
Good to see Australia has selected 22 functioning hamstrings for this match. #AusvSA
— Cat Jones (@Cricketbatcat) November 16, 2014
3rd over: Australia 7-1 (Finch 2, Watson 4)
Morkel is whipped nicely by Watson for four from the final ball, but that followed five deliveries that zipped, seamed, leapt and generally made life difficult. It’s been a sensational start, Morkel has completely shirtfronted the Australian openers.
Ok can everyone stop saying shirt fronting?
— Tom Woodcock (@tomwoodcock) November 16, 2014
2nd over: Australia 3-1 (Finch 2, Watson 0)
Vernon Philander gets through a quiet over, only two runs to Finch.
1st over: Australia 1-1 (Finch 0, Watson 0)
Well. Warner had played and missed off the front foot, then been beaten off the back foot, then was out. The over conceded only a wide. Morkel wins.
Wicket! Warner 0 (5 balls), c de Kock b Morkel
What a start for Morkel! Warner gloved it solidly down leg side, he whipped around guiltily, the South Africans went up, the umpire said not out but the review showed a clear deflection from the bottom glove. The danger man gone for blot.
Updated
Review
In the very first over, Warner has missed one down the leg side from Morkel and the South Africans have reviewed looking for a nick.
According to the radio the ground is absolutely magnificent condition, the day is absolutely magnificent, and we’re in for an absolute belter after the Aussie openers absolutely took the attack apart the other night in absolutely awesome fashion. Absolutely.
Teams; Aus win toss and will bat
Here is the team news. I’m sorry, I’ll read that again - here are the team news. Australian skipper Michael Clarke (or as a Channel Nine newsreader mispronounced him the other day, Australian stripper Michael Clarke) is out injured with that problematic hamstring. Boycott all ham! Don’t let the pigs win. That may just be for the best, as now George Bailey can settle into captaining the side properly rather than as a temp, and young Spud Smith can come into the side to try continuing his sublime batting form.
The wily South Africans have dropped a bowler, leaving them with only four. Hmm. Ryan McLaren will not be back on the WACA deck, given his tendency to be spooked out by bouncers and his tendency to be carted onto the grassy banks. Rilee Rossouw has come in, a batsman, meaning Saffrica will have to conjure their other ten overs from... who? Berhadien for a few, but surely not ten or he’ll be collared. Will de Villiers just bowl them himself? What are they thinking? Fill me in, RSA experts.
Australia
DA Warner, AJ Finch, SR Watson, SPD Smith, GJ Bailey*, MR Marsh, MS Wade†, GJ Maxwell, MG Johnson, NM Coulter-Nile, JR Hazlewood
South Africa
HM Amla, Q de Kock†, F du Plessis, F Behardien, AB de Villiers*, RR Rossouw, DA Miller, VD Philander, DW Steyn, M Morkel, Imran Tahir
The television broadcasters are currently experimenting with extremely bad holograms: expect Tupac Shakur to take a middle-stump guard, and Arnold Rimmer to come in and put the ball on a good length.
If I may paraphrase a famous Truman (neither Harry nor Capote): good morning, good afternoon, good evening and good night. I don’t know where you are. It’s afternoon on the eastern coast of Australia, and it’s late morning in Perth, where the second ODI between South Africa and Australia is soon to get underway. Geoff Lemon here with you, and please do drop me a line throughout the day with any thoughts, facts, trivia, observations, libellous statements or biscuit recipes.
Geoff is on first innings duty today and he will be here momentarily; Russ is primed and raring to go for the second. As Geoff wends his way to his keyboard, here’s a reminder of what happened in the first match, including a worrying injury for captain Michael Clarke, that could yet have repercussions for the upcoming Test series against India.
