South Africa v Australia, 2nd ODI, Review: Faf du Plessis ton shepherds South Africa to consecutive wins

South Africa continued their dominance in the series after they comfortably beat Australia by a massive 142 runs to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series. Faf du Plessis played a captain’s knock today and starred in the win with a superb century, making 111 runs off just 93 balls. His sparkling knock laid the platform for the middle order to propel South Africa to a formidable 361/6 in the first innings after being put into bat first in the first innings.

Steven Smith’s inexperienced bowling were handed a thrashing for the second consecutive time today. For a change, it was a different batsman who did the damage. Australia entered the game with two debutants – fast bowlers Chris Tremain and Joe Mennie. But, the duo, who replaced Dan Worrall and Scott Boland, did not have a good debut and were treated in the same manner with which the men whom they replaced were treated a few days ago.

Opener Quinton de Kock could not recreate the magical performance he produced at Centurion and was got rid of quickly today for 22 by John Hastings. However, his failure didn’t mean that the Proteas got to a bad start. Thanks to the aggressive Rilee Rossouw, 70 runs were added for the first wicket despite De Kock’s slow start.

Faf du Plessis then combined with Rossouw and carried on the proceedings. The pair formed a quick fire 76 runs stand for the second wicket to further add pressure on the inexperienced Aussie bowling attack. Hastings came to Australia’s rescue again and broke the stand in the 25th over with the wicket of Rilee.

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But, the Proteas top order looked in a tough mood today. JP Duminy joined the settled Faf du Plessis and continued the show from where Rilee left. However, they made up for the poor show in the 1st ODI and played exceptionally. The pair looked uncontrollable and pummeled the Australians to all corners of the stadium.

There was aggression from both the ends. Du Plessis and Duminy shared a 150 runs partnership for the 3rd wicket before they were separated in the 42nd over just four runs short of taking their team past the three-run mark. An over later Du Plessis also departed. But, David Miller’s short explosive cameo of 26 runs from just 17 balls along with handy contributions from Farhaan Behardien (13) and Phehlukwayo (13) propelled the South Africa total to a winning position.

Australia never looked in the competition right from the start of the chase. They lost wickets at regular intervals starting with the fall of Aaron Finch in the 2nd over. The South African fast bowlers looked in good form. Dale Steyn got Steven Smith removed shortly after Rabada got the first breakthrough for his team in the form Finch. Left armer Wayne Parnell broke the back of the Australian batting order with the wickets of Steven Smith and Mitchell Marsh.

Things became worse for the Australians after Warner, who was holding the fort from one end and kept the scoreboard ticking, was dismissed after in the 21st over. The South Africans were completely on top of the opposition at this stage and the game was as good as over for the chasing side. The run rate was mounting and the half of the side was back in the hut. However, the middle order showed some resistance and did not let their team surrender meekly.

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Travis Head rallied his way to maiden ODI fifty while Mathew Wade and John Hastings made 33 and 23 respectively to take the Australians past the 200 run mark. But, the South African never loosened the grip over the match and eventually sealed the match easily.  With this win, the hosts are now just one win away from pocketing the series. Every game for Australia will be do-or-die from now on. Both sides meet at Durban on October 5th in Durban.

Brief Scores:

South Africa: 361/6 50 overs (Faf Du Plessis 111; John Hastings 3/57)

Australia: 219 in 37.4 overs (Travis Head 51; Wayne Parnell 3/40)

Man of the Match: Faf du Plessis