Key events
43rd over: Australia 266-4 (Carey 66, Green 3) Carey is starting to take on the spinnner. Reverse sweep off Fortuin for four. Eight from the over. He still has two overs to go, though – somebody will have to find a way to score from them.
42nd over: Australia 255-4 (Carey 60, Green 1) The partnership of 66 was useful. Now, in comes Cameron Green at No7. Does he have what it takes to attack the bowling in this late stage without getting warmed up? Three runs from the over.
WICKET! Renshaw c Markram b Coetzee 30, Australia 257-5
Coetzee returns, and Renshaw plays the kind of shot you don’t really want to play against a bowler of that pace. Flat-batted, a forcing shot really down the ground, but trying to elevate the ball. Too much that can go wrong there. The ball goes straight up in the air, a long way, but the freefall time won’t bother Markram.
41st over: Australia 255-4 (Carey 60, Renshaw 28) Into the last ten. Australia have set the base, now can they polish the metalwork? Renshaw tries another scoop shot and gets just a sliver on it, enough for two runs. If your dad plays that shot, is he a paddle pop?
40th over: Australia 249-4 (Carey 57, Renshaw 25) Mokoena makes Carey hop! Not that short, but the ball jumps at the shoulder of the bat, and pops into the air behind the wicket, but it falls just in front of the keeper. Carey celebrates with a pick-up pull, sending Mokoena over long leg for six. Renshaw likes the look of that, so he celebrates with a lap shot, moving across his stumps to deflect through fine leg for four.
Half century! Alex Carey 50 from 68 balls
39th over: Australia 234-4 (Carey 50, Renshaw 18) Markram is continuing, around the wicket to the left-handed pair. He has a sweeper out at cover now, that looks like Duan Jansen substitute fielding because Tony de Zorzi is off the field with a hamstring injury. Markram gets wide, drifting down the leg side, as well as being worked around for a couple of singles. Carey does get more expansive to end the over, slashing up through cover, but Jansen is there again to keep the scoring to two. That shot will raise Carey’s milestone.
38th over: Australia 227-4 (Carey 45, Renshaw 17) There’s Carey at his best. Sees the angle across him from Mokoena, and perfectly times the step forward and cover drive, lofted over the infield. That’s such a sweet shot.That’s such a sweet shot.
37th over: Australia 220-4 (Carey 39, Renshaw 16) Markram gives himself another bowl. It goes well until he drops a bit short to end the over, and Renshaw pile-drives him through cover.
36th over: Australia 214-4 (Carey 38, Renshaw 11) Mokoena is back. He’s been remarkably frugal today, and by the end of this over has gone for 20 from five overs.
35th over: Australia 211-4 (Carey 37, Renshaw 9) Yep, the Cary Busyness Index™ is rising. Goes over cover for a couple, then darts a furious signle. Renshaw lifts a six over long off. Very simple hit. Left-arm spin over the wicket, fairly full, and Renshaw’s height lets him step right to the pitch of it with just one motion of his front foot, then he drops it over the fence.
34th over: Australia 199-4 (Carey 33, Renshaw 1) Carey has been very circumspect by his standards, but gets moving with a shuffle and a straight hit for four against Bosch.
In the meantime, the Windies made their highest ever score in an ODI today. Aaaaand right now, India are on track to chase it.
33rd over: Australia 194-4 (Carey 28, Renshaw 1) Another very frugal over from Fortuin, two from it.
32nd over: Australia 192-4 (Carey 27, Renshaw 0) That’s a wicket maiden, even though the score has changed. (There was a leg bye, which doesn’t go against the bowler.)
WICKET! Peake c Fortuin b Bosch 48, Australia 191-4
First ball after drinks! And it’s an excellent catch. Bosch bowls some pretty ordinary stuff wide of the stumps, Peake drives it square but airborne, and Fortuin is standing pretty close at point, the ball isn’t that wide of him, but he had started diving anyway, so he has to take the catch and then complete the dive. Very well held, away to his left. No half century for Ollie Peake.
31st over: Australia 191-3 (Peake 48, Carey 27) The skipper returns to specialist spin, with Fortuin bowling another very tight over. Figures of 1 for 21 from his five so far.
30th over: Australia 189-3 (Peake 47, Carey 26) The Stubbs experiment is over, with Bosch coming back to bowl some pace. He discomfits Peake with the short ball! Plays it badly, very front on facing the ball by the time he tries to play it. He already starts with quite an open stance, then turns around further as he sees the ball coming down, and has to fend it away while standing square on to the bowler, horrible spot to be in while blocking a bouncer. Bosch makes it easier for him with the next short ball, heading down leg, and while Peake is initially shaping to duck it, he eventually follows it and pulls it through fine leg.
29th over: Australia 181-3 (Peake 40, Carey 25) Peake follows Carey’s lead! Gets a chance at a short ball himself, this one from Markram, and dismisses it over deep midwicket. Six more.
28th over: Australia 172-3 (Peake 32, Carey 24) Almost a catch, Peake driving back at Stubbs and seeing the ball pitch just short of the bowler’s fingers. Then out of nowhere, Carey pulls a six! Not crazy short, thigh height, and it looks like the sort of ball you hit for four, but Carey’s flat strike keeps going. Over the square leg rope.
27th over: Australia 165-3 (Peake 31, Carey 18) Markram is burning through another set, singles, and finally Carey breaks, playing a reverse sweep. Almost four, but de Zorzi tumbles and taps back down at deep third, braids flying everywhere as he loses his hat and rolls over. Every other ball in the over goes for one. That’s a bit more busy from the batters.
26th over: Australia 158-3 (Peake 28, Carey 14) Tristan Stubbs bowling now. Curious. Pace off is the current SA way. Pace off the scoring rate too. Only three.
25th over: Australia 155-3 (Peake 26, Carey 13) Carey almost goes the same way Marsh did. Or the mirror image: off-spinner to the left-hander, as opposed to left orthodox to the right-hander. Gets low to sweep, plays over the top of it, and is hit in front, but on Carey’s review there’s a tiny spike from the bottom edge. Markram has a wicket chalked off, after having about five dropped the other day.
That’s the halfway mark.
24th over: Australia 153-3 (Peake 25, Carey 12) Shotzee, from Coetzee! Peake whacks him. Coetzee is generating serious wheels in this over, dips short and Peake ices the cut shot, a little up and under in that as well. In revenge, Coetzee almost kills his own wicketkeeper. Short and just creeping down the leg side, then it swings back towards the keeper in the air, and de Kock has to jam a glove in front of his face to avoid getting a new piece of Kookaburra dental jewellery. Another short ball, with Peake getting out of the way, and a fourth, that he cuts again for four! Fun contest.
23rd over: Australia 143-3 (Peake 17, Carey 11) More Markram, and Peake can’t do much with him. Gets a couple of runs from a sweep, but otherwise he’s going nowhere. Cuts a ball into the ground that nearly goes back onto his stumps.
22nd over: Australia 141-3 (Peake 15, Carey 11) Too wide from Coetzee, and Carey doesn’t do the Head throw of the hands, but he places the bat face there, open bladed, and guides the ball to the fence at point. Then plays an awkward pull shot to get off strike. After Marsh opening, Australia have left-handers all the way down to No7.
Coetzee gets lift to Peake, who’s driving on the up and missing, nearly a nick. That comes right after a short ball.
21st over: Australia 134-3 (Peake 14, Carey 6) A close-run thing, literally, as Carey tries to take a single and then has to turn back, diving for his ground after a good pick-up and throw from Stubbs. Markram’s part-time spin is now the weapon of choice, and his over costs only three.
20th over: Australia 131-3 (Peake 13, Carey 4) Coetzee keeps the valve fastened, just the one run for Carey to cover, his favourite spot.
19th over: Australia 130-3 (Peake 13, Carey 3) Extras doing the heavy lifting for the moment, as Mokoena bowls a couple of wides, then a ball that deserves to be, clipping some pad that takes it down to the rope for four byes.
18th over: Australia 121-3 (Peake 12, Carey 2) Australia’s keeper in next. Has a little look. Nudges a couple of singles.
WICKET! Connolly b Coetzee 23, Australia 118-3
Keep it simple. Coetzee returns after being pumped early on, he comes around the wicket to the lefties, and he arrows a yorker in at the base of middle and off. Scrambled seam, perfect length, Connolly can’t jam down.
17th over: Australia 118-2 (Connolly 23, Peake 11) Mokoena isn’t doing anything that stands out, just running in and hitting the deck, hard length mostly, and nothing much happens until the end of the over, when Peake tries to slam a full ball from outside leg stump through midwicket, but misses. It crashes into his boot.
16th over: Australia 113-2 (Connolly 21, Peake 9) Australia scored 79 in nine overs off the top, then 28 in six overs since Head’s wicket. Fortuin continues in that vein, singles coming for the two left-handers from the left-armer.
15th over: Australia 107-2 (Connolly 17, Peake 7) First boundary conceded by Mokoena, as Connolly gets on top of a pull shot and picks his spot around the corner.
14th over: Australia 102-2 (Connolly 12, Peake 7) So it’s time for Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead. Peake and Connolly have been left at home while the folks are out of town. Peake chunks a couple of runs over the leg side, then nicks Fortuin past slip for four.
WICKET! Marsh lbw Fortuin 56, Australia 94-2
The formula holds true. Marsh, big early shots, race to 50, Australia flying, South Africa introduce spin, sand in the gears, Marsh gets out without converting. Flat ball skidding past a sweep shot. DRS review doesn’t change the umpire’s decision.
13th over: Australia 94-1 (Marsh 56, Connolly 11) The South Africans have held back Mokoena until the relatively gentle environs of the 13th over, and Marsh is kind to him as well, just taking a couple of singles to cover.
12th over: Australia 91-1 (Marsh 54, Connolly 10) What is with these Australians and spin? Fortuin works away at Connolly, who apparently has no fracking idea how to do literally anything with a spin bowler. Almost chips back a catch, finds the field repeatedly, and takes five balls to get off strike with a tuck to square. Marsh’s early charge has slowed right down, partly because he’s barely had strike. He hits Fortuin hard off the back foot to deep cover, but there’s now a fielder back.
11th over: Australia 89-1 (Marsh 53, Connolly 9) A nice cover drive from Connolly against Bosch does the job. That’s his best shot.
The Head-Marsh partnership ends today at 1379 runs, one behind Watson and Haddin. Could we compound them as the Headmarshter?
10th over: Australia 82-1 (Marsh 52, Connolly 3) Fortuin into the attack, and a catch goes down! Spin is immediately the danger again for Australia, Connolly drives in the air to cover, and how has Matthew Breetzke dropped that? He’s taken some stunners this series, then shells the one that loops to him at head height to hit the meat of both palms.
9th over: Australia 79-1 (Marsh 51, Connolly 1) Plenty of time for Cooper Connolly today to build an innings, and no run chase to worry about.
WICKET! Head b Bosch 24, Australia 78-1
He’s chopped on again! Just keeps on doing that lately, does Head. Bosch buys him out, really. A friendly bit of width from Bosch earlier in the over, not once but twice, and both disappear over cover. No fielder in the deep there during the fielding restrictions. But then Bosch gets tighter to the stumps, still with some angle across, and Head tries to flash it away with an angled blade. Bottom edge, stumps.
Half century! Mitchell Marsh 51 from 33 balls
8th over: Australia 70-0 (Marsh 51, Head 16) Marsh is just so effortless in the way he hits these. Leans back a little and plants a huge pull shot over the leg side, as so often coming from a ball that isn’t too short. Then aims through midwicket and gets an edge down through fine leg for four, again standing tall and swinging hard.
Marsh and Head, the combo has quickly become something very impressive. They’re currently 29th on the list of Australian one-day partnerships, which doesn’t sound too exciting, but at around 1350 runs and climbing, they’re within a couple of hundred runs of overtaking a bunch of other entries – and they’ve had fewer innings than any pairing ahead of them, having only batted together 26 times.
Marsh adds a brace to end the over, and raises another 50. He’s had one in every match this series.
7th over: Australia 57-0 (Marsh 39, Head 16) As in the previous two games, Marsh is striking clean as a whistle, while Head is more a rusty gate. But his runs are coming, as they have done recently. Bosch the bowler, and Head almost chops onto his stumps, before slashing a ball that’s almost caught at deep third, but goes just square of the fielder for four.
6th over: Australia 52-0 (Marsh 38, Head 12) Marsh just keeps hitting straight! These two shots tend towards the on side rather than the off, but they find the fence regardless, Marsh just swinging through the line of Lizaad Williams’ bowling
5th over: Australia 42-0 (Marsh 30, Head 11) Lovely straight drive from Head, very simple back past Coetzee along the floor. Then Marsh tucks in! Drives him square for four, huge powerful swing of the hands there, then lifts him off a length – that ball isn’t too full, it’s swinging away slightly as well, and Marsh doesn’t care. He hits it anyway, over long off for a one-bouncer. He’s in touch…
4th over: Australia 29-0 (Marsh 22, Head 7) The topsy-turvy game continues, with Williams now bowling an over that goes for just one.
3rd over: Australia 28-0 (Marsh 22, Head 6) Coetzee’s second over is a contrast to his first. The first boundary isn’t middled, just tucked away off the hip. The second boundary isn’t ever, toed over mid on. But the third big hit is crunched, pull shot over midwicket for six.
2nd over: Australia 10-0 (Marsh 5, Head 5) And the quiet times lasted one over! First Head, then Marsh, play pull shots from Williams for four.
1st over: Australia 0-0 (Marsh 0, Head 0) A maiden over to begin the match. That’s quite something from Coetzee, who has got the ball swerving around the place like a remote-controlled plane. There has been early swing in this series, before the belting of the ball begins. Marsh is happy to wait, defending stoutly.
Elsewhere, in Guwahati, West Indies are making sure to give Virat Kohli plenty of runs to score in the chase. They’ve got 330 from 40 overs!
So. Another game for Peake, one of the young brigade the Aussies are investing in. That pushes Jack Edwards out, after taking five wickets, and Cam Green down to No7. What is going on with the Aussie selectors and Green? The guy who made 17 off 34 to tank the chase last time around is now the finisher? He’ll want to have completely renovated his approach during three days in the nets.
SA get de Zorzi and Rickelton in for Miller and Bavuma, Bosch and Coetzee in for the Jansens, and inexperienced seamer Mokoena in for the spinner Maharaj. That will please the Australians.
Teams
Australia
Mitch Marsh *
Travis Head
Cooper Connolly
Ollie Peake
Alex Carey +
Matt Renshaw
Cam Green
Pat Cummins
Xavier Bartlett
Mitchell Starc
Adam Zampa
South Africa
Aiden Markram *
Quinton de Kock +
Tony de Zorzi
Matthew Breetzke
Ryan Rickelton
Tristan Stubbs
Corbin Bosch
Gerald Coetzee
Bjorn Fortuin
Nqobani Mokoena
Lizaad Williams
South Africa win the toss and bowl
Hooray, coin time. Temba Bavuma is rested, with Aiden Markram taking his place as captain.
This would be much more interesting if they at least had the toss, so we would have the teams. Keen to see who’s playing today. Is Pat Cummins going to have a warm-up before the Test series? It would be more like a cooldown out there. He kind of has to play really, Ellis can’t play after that side strain that took him out of the last match early.
It’s not raining, they just had a lot of rain earlier, so even though the covers are off, they have a lot of soaking-up work to do. Potch is at reasonably high altitude, so apparently it’s cold today as well as wet. Not much fun for cricketers.
Toss delayed
Okay, we spoke too soon. There is a wet outfield at the ground in Potchefstroom, so the toss has been delayed.
You know what they say: better to have delayed and tossed than never to have tossed at all.
Preamble
Geoff Lemon
Hello! Game 3 and final today, with South Africa already taking the series in the first two. It has been a battle of the middle overs, with the home spinners thoroughly doing the job over the visiting batting. Australia, defending champions, need a solution to getting tied down, with just a year to go until the next World Cup, also in South Africa. So, still a lot to play for today.
