SA’s phony war ends

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

THE phony war SA have been fighting in Zimbabwe ends on Wednesday in the form of a one-day international against Australia in Harare.

But SA’s awakening is unlikely to be rude. In fact, all AB de Villiers needs to know his team face their stiffest challenge yet on their trip north of the Limpopo is his memory of last season’s Newlands test between Wednesday’s opponents.

With that series locked at a game apiece, the third test threatened to come apart at the seams as the tension rose along with Australia’s push for victory, which they achieved by 245 runs.

Hot words were slung like bullets, several of them by Michael Clarke at Dale Steyn - who levelled his bat at the Australian captain, causing the umpires to step in.

“It was a hard-fought series, but there are definitely no hard feelings,” De Villiers said on Tuesday. “We didn’t expect anything less. It’s always a tough series. I’m expecting to see more of that in this series.

“There was lots of personal stuff. I don’t mind it - I laughed at a couple of chirps I heard.”

But De Villiers warned that not everyone in the SA dressingroom held his benign view of the Aussies’ sledging habit.

“They can’t expect us to be mates with them off the field if they get very personal,” he said.

And SA will not expect Australia to role over like Zimbabwe have done in the test and three one-day internationals, all of which the Proteas have won.

The Aussies made plain their intentions in the first match of the triangular series on Monday, when they racked up 350/6 - the highest ODI total made at Harare Sports Club - and dismissed Zimbabwe for 152 inside 40 overs to win by 198 runs: their biggest victory over the Zimbabweans in the format.

De Villiers, however, opted for understatement: “We analysed it in our meeting and I watched a couple of overs - not too many,” he said. “It was a one-sided game. Australia obviously played well and deserved to win.”

The plain truth was that Australia took the fight to Zimbabwe in a way SA have not. They did not hold back in their attacks with bat and ball, and won in style. SA, by contrast, did not do much more than what was required of them.

“I’m very happy with the way we’ve performed,” De Villiers said. “I won’t say we’re the perfect unit; there’s lots of room for improvement. We’re certainly not where we want to be, but I thought we played very well.”

Bizarrely, considering the results so far, he also had kind words for the home side: “Zimbabwe are a very dangerous ODI team, especially in their own country, and I won’t be surprised if they upset the likes of Australia in this series - hopefully not us.”

De Villiers and Hashim Amla, who were both rested for the third ODI against Zimbabwe, will no doubt return to action on Wednesday. So, in all likelihood, will Steyn and Morne Morkel, who put their feet up for the entire series.

Clarke remains a doubtful starter with a hamstring injury that kept him out of Monday’s game.

But SA can bank on facing Glenn Maxwell, who blasted 93 off 46 balls against Zimbabwe, for the first time in an ODI.