Times Media
TELFORD VICE, Cape Town
AUSTRALIA beat SA at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday for the first time in the seven one-day internationals the teams have played at cricket’s own colosseum, but Russell Domingo reckoned he had been thrown to these lions before.
“That’s where we’ve lost a couple of the games here,” SA coach Domingo said in analysing SA’s performance at the end of the innings in both departments on their tour to Australia.
“In the first game in Perth, they got 104 runs (and lost three wickets) in the last 10 overs.”
By contrast, in that match SA scored 53/2 from the 41st over to the 49th, when they were bowled out.
Something similar happened on Friday.
“We didn’t finish well with the bat - we were 51/4 in the last 10 overs,” Domingo said. “They were 86/2 in nine.”
In the second game of the series, also at the WACA, Australia were dismissed for 154 in 41.4 overs and SA chased down the target in 27.4.
But the trend returned in Canberra on Wednesday, when Australia scored 88/3 in the last 10. From the 41st over to their dismissal in the 45, SA made 24/4.
“When two good sides play against each other those type of mistakes are always going to be exposed,” Domingo said. “We left ourselves short at the end of the innings with bat and with ball.”
On Friday, Australia won by three wickets with an over remaining to clinch the series with a game in hand. SA batted first for the only time in the four games and totalled 267/8. Steve Smith’s fearless batting, which earned him a perfectly measured 104, powered the home side to victory.
Both sides built their innings on a century stand - none of the other 15 partnerships in the match reached 50. The difference lay in the timing of the telling stands.
AB de Villiers and David Miller shared 122 after SA had been reduced to 77/3 in the 17th over. Smith and Matthew Wade put on 121 after the Aussies had slipped to 98/5 in the 25th.
Each of those partnerships lasted 20.1 overs, but the fact that Australia’s started 45 balls deeper into the innings than SA’s means they could be significantly less concerned about being bowled out - even though when the cavalry arrived they had lost two more wickets compared to the visitors.
The Smith-Wade stand is the highest for Australia in an ODI in which they have lost their first five wickets for fewer than 100 runs. Similarly, the Australians’ total is their highest in ODIs when they have lost half their wickets before reaching three figures.
More importantly, Smith was at the crease until what became the penultimate ball of the match. In SA’s innings, Miller went in the 37th over and De Villiers in the 43rd: when the Aussies were consolidating, SA were rebuilding.
De Villiers deserves his due for another brilliant innings, this time an innovative 91 off 88 balls with six fours in which the ball streaked off his bat at every which angle.
However, it will take more than one fine performance to beat Australia, and it will take many more than that to win a World Cup.
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