SA middle order goes AWOL. Again ...

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

BOTH sides wore green and gold, but that was far from the only similarity between Australia and SA in the third one-day international in Canberra on Wednesday.

The key difference, however, was that Australia won by 73 runs to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.

Both teams enjoyed the stability that comes with an opener scoring a century, and with a stand of more than 100 for the first wicket. Both reached 50 off fewer than 60 balls, and 100 as well as 200 in around a run a ball. After 25 overs, Australia were 137/1 and SA 139/1.

But it was the Australians who made it all count. SA did not because their last six wickets went down for 32 runs in 43 balls.

Not for the first time, SA’s undoing was their middle order going AWOL when they were needed most. They should be thankful cricket is not war, where deserters are taken out and shot.

“It’s always difficult on these kinds of decks, where it’s a bit slower and there’s a bit of reverse swing and the ball’s getting softer and green, and it’s difficult to see,” De Villiers said. “If you have two new batsmen at the crease, the runrate is always going to slow down and we lost our way.”

Hashim Amla scored his 17th century in the format, a wonderful 102 that saw the great deflector at his greatest. However, for only the second time in his 101 ODIs SA lost despite an Amla ton.

AB de Villiers’ emphatic 52 - off 36 balls with six fours and a six - was just the 12th time in the 174 ODIs he has played that he has reached 50 in a losing cause.

Quinton de Kock, who shared 108 for the first wicket with Amla in a stand that endured into the 19th over, looked set for big things before holing out off his leading edge for 47.

The 76 that Amla and De Kock added for the fourth wicket was SA’s only other noteworthy stand.

Which is where SA’s good news ends. Not one of Faf du Plessis, Rilee Rossouw, Farhaan Behardien or David Miller could score more than Du Plessis’ 17, and all resistance crumbled once De Villiers and Amla were dismissed in a span of six balls.

“I’m happy that they’ve got the ability to do it,” De Villiers said of Behardien and Miller. “They’ve got a few games to go before the World Cup, and that where we would like them to be in tip top form.”

The Aussie innings had told a different story. Aaron Finch scored 109 and put on 118 for the first wicket with David Warner, who made 53. Then Finch and Shane Watson piled on 71 for the second, followed by Finch and Steve Smith adding 53 for the third.

Once a hoiking Finch had been cleanbowled by De Villiers in the 41st over, Smith took on the responsibility of squeezing every available run out of the innings. His 73 not out came off 55 balls and Australia totalled 329/5.

Between them Finch and Smith were on the field for every delivery the home side faced. The closest SA came to that kind of continuity was Amla batting into the 39th over of an innings that ended at 256/9 after 44.3 overs because Imran Tahir was absent injured with a leg problem.

The teams next clash in Melbourne on Friday.