The 3rd ODI between South Africa and Australia was played on the 7th of March. South Africa won the toss and elected to bowl first.
A strong bowling performance came from the South Africans as they held Australia at the 254 runs mark. 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. None of the other Australian batsmen showed decent performance. 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 de Kock score 26 runs in 31 balls. Both openers lost their wickets within the first ten overs of the match. Outstanding performances from the middle order batsmen rescued the game. Jon-Jon Smuts scored an impressive 84 runs in 98 balls which brought stability to South Africa’s innings. Kyle Verreynne helped with his inning of 50 runs in 50 balls before being caught out by Marnus Labuschange. The game was pretty much in the balance around the 30 over mark. After Kyle Verreynne lost his wicket, Heinrich Klassen came over and took matters into his hands delivering a jaw-dropping performance. He scored 68 runs in 63 balls and made sure his team has sealed the victory to see a 3-0 thrashing of Australia in the series.
David Miller scored mere 3 runs in 5 balls. Josh Hazlewood took 2 wickets while Adam Zampa and Kane Richardson took a wicket each as Australia’s bowling performance could not keep up with the South African middle order. The man of the match was awarded to Jon-Jon Smuts.