Australia had to face a sour 3-0 loss in a three-match ODI series in South Africa. The South Africans were comfortable winning all three ODI’s with outstanding individual performances and team effort. They extended their appreciable winning streak to 11 wins out of 12 ODI’s against Australia after beating them 5-0 in 2006 and 2-1 in 2018.
Jon-Jon Smuts scored 84 runs in the first match while Heinrich Klassen supported him with an outstanding, unbeaten run tally of 123 runs. Klassen was the only batsman in the series to cross the 200 run mark of total runs scored in the series. South Africa’s batsmen must have been relieved by the fact that they had a chaseable target. Without their ace bowlers Kagiso Rabada who was injured and Lungi Ngidi who was rested for the game, the South Africans were able to wind up the Aussies at a below-par score-line with Anrich Nortje, Lutho Sipamla, Daryn Dupavillon, Smuts and Keshav Maharaj not allowing more than 5 runs per over. Australia had to face defeat but that was not the end of everything as they witnessed a brilliant performance by Marnus Labuschange. He scored an amazing unbeaten ton. The Australians also managed to score 42 runs in the last five overs which was seen as a little bit of daylight.
The 2nd ODI was played in Bloemfontein where the Aussies won the toss and elected to bat first. They managed to score 271 runs before losing all their wickets. Decent batting performances were given by Warner, Flinch, Marsh and D’Arcy Short as they scored 35, 69, 36 and 69 runs respectively. None of the other batsmen could score above 21 runs which, again, was a below-par batting performance by the Australians. An outstanding bowling performance was given by the South African bowler Ngidi who took 6 wickets allowing only 58 runs in 10 overs. Anrich Nortje took two wickets while Shamsi and Phehlukowayo took a wicket each. The 2nd innings of the match saw some good batting performances from the South Africans. Janneman Malan played an impressive inning scoring 129 runs in 139 balls while staying unbeaten. Jon-Jon Smuts, Heinrich Klassen and David Miller scored 41, 51 and 37 runs respectively. As a result of a weak bowling performance, the Aussies faced defeat once again. South Africa had already grabbed a 2-0 series winning score-line with one more game to play.
In the 3rd ODI, South Africa won the toss and elected to bowl first. Marnus Labuschange scored a ton and took his tally to 108 runs in 108 balls. D’Arcy Short scored a decent 36 runs in 44 balls whereas Shaun Marsh managed 32 runs in 41 balls. Anrich Nortje and Jon-Jon Smuts both managed to take 2 wickets while Daryn Dupavillon and Andile Phehlukwayo took a wicket each. The South Africans batted well after an average start. They managed well after a slow start which saw Janneman Malan score 23 runs in 26 balls and Quinton deKock score 26 runs in 31 balls. Jon-Jon Smuts scored an impressive 84 runs in 98 balls which brought stability to South Africa’s innings.
The man of the series was awarded to Heinrich Klassen.