South Africa v Australia, ODI series – South Africa Players Ratings

South Africa beat Australia by 32-runs in the fifth and final one-day International at Newlands to clean sweep the World Champions. The loss completed a first ever 5-0 one-day bilateral clean sweep for the Australians, who were bowled out for 296 while chasing 328 for victory.

The series completely belonged to the Proteas. Their batsmen were outstanding and took full advantage of Australia’s second string bowling attack. The Australians did try their best to compete and showed some fight. The likes of Steven Smith, David Warner and Aaron Finch gave some good performances. However, the Proteas were far superior in the series and simply outclassed the Aussies.

1. Quinton de Kock (WK) – 8.5/10:

Quinton de Kock was very impressive in the series overall. But, his match wise performances were quite fluctuating. The opening batsman began the series with a bang slamming a record breaking 178 off just 113 balls. In the following game, he was dismissed for just 22. He made a strong comeback in the 3rd match to hit a fine half-century. However, he failed to come up with any good performances in the remaining two matches where could muster only 18 and 12 runs. However, despite three below par games, De Kock still raked 300 runs at an average of 60 with a strike rate of 137.61.

2. Hashim Amla – 6/10:

Hashim Amla, who was unavailable for the first two games due to illness, could not have any huge impact in on the opposition. Amla returned to the side from the 3rd match and made fiery 45 off just 30 balls in the 66 run opening stand with De Kock. The following two matches were duds for him.

In the 4^th match, Amla could not sustain for long and was dismissed for a single digit while chasing a lowly target of 168. Fans anticipated a solid show from him in the final match of the series. Amla started well and looked settled. But, unfortunately. he could not live up to the anticipation and was dismissed after a fluent 25 runs.

3. Faf du Plessis (C) – 8/10:

Faf du Plessis, who took up the leadership responsibility for this series, was outstanding. Captaincy was not a headache for him as all his men performed brilliantly. He did not fiddle with the winning combination but, at the same time, made sure that there were no chinks in the team combination. Rotating key men and balancing the line-up was another impressive take away from his captaincy.

Talking about his batting, Faf du Plessis garnered 250 runs in five match at an average of 50. His best knock of the series was the 111 runs knock in the 2nd ODI. This performance ensured a smooth win for the home side and also earned him a Man of The Match award.

4. Rilee Rossouw – 9/10:

Rilee Rossouw was in stupendous form in this series scoring 311 runs in 5 matches at a staggering average of 77.75. The stylish left-hander, who was called up to the squad as a replacement for AB de Villiers ended up replacing an ill Hashim Amla at the start of the Australia series.

He justified his position and cracked back to back half centuries in first two matches. Rossouw displayed versatility and shifted to the middle order once Amla returned to the Starting XI. It would have been illogical to bench him considering his current form. The next two games saw him score just 18 and 33*. However, he made up for those silent outing with a spectacular 122 in the final match.

5. Jean-Paul Duminy – 7.5/10:

JP Duminy had satisfying series. The all-rounder scored 209 runs at an average of 41.80 and bowled miserly spell with the bowl to played crucial role in South Africa’s dominance over the World Champions.

After beginning the series on a dull note, Duminy cracked a stroke-filled 58 ball 82 runs knock to help South Africa set a mammoth 362 runs target. The next two games were not good for him with the bat. But, he made up for that with economical bowling show. The southpaw came back strongly in the final match and gave a perfect finish to the series with a well-compiled 73 runs knock.

6. David Miller – 8.5/10:

David Miller played only one memorable knock this series. The third match of the series witnessed Miller go hammer and tongs and register his 3rd ODI century. His heroic 118 runs inning enabled South Africa chase an improbable looking 373 run target and virtually seal the series.

Battled cramps throughout the inning, Miller displayed great character and went on to play the best knock of the series. Unfortunately, he had to miss the following game due to a groin injury. Miller, however, made a quick recovery and was back to full fitness for the final ODI. Overall, he made 193 runs with a strike rate of 142.96.

7. Tabraiz Shamsi – 7.5/10:

Tabraiz Shamsi made a short yet headline-grabbing appearance in the series. The jovial chinaman played only the 4th ODI and did a commendable job taking 3/36 to play a prime role in bowling out Australia for just 167. However, his antics brought him some disciplinary action from the match official.

Shamsi along with his counterpart Matthew Wade was slapped with a 25 percent match fee fine following a verbal exchange and physical altercation. The incident happened in the 17th over of Australia’s innings when Wade was running for a single off Shamsi. The duo had a verbal exchange and made physical contact.

8. Wayne Parnell – 7.5/10:

Wayne Parnell played in only the first two matches of the series and was quite impressive in both the matches. The left arm fast bowler played good supporting to frontline seamers Kagiso Rabada and Dale Steyn. In his first game, he bowled bit an expensive spell giving away 52 runs in his 8 overs but also chipped the important wicket of David Warner.

In the second fixture, he came up with a much better performance by taking ending up with a tally 3/40. Parnell, unfortunately, could not play in the series thereafter and was overlooked for the rest of the series making way for the fast bowler Dwaine Pretorius.

9. Andile Phehlukwayo – 8.5/10:

Andile Phehlukwayo, who made his international debut against Ireland just before the start of this series, proved his mettle as a rising fast bowler by finishing as the highest wicket taker of the series. He began the series with a fantastic 4/44 stun the Australians completely. He continued to impress and followed his the headline-grabbing performance with figures of 2/59, 1/58, 0/28 and 1/51.

This series was a golden opportunity for Phehlukwayo who had to work really hard to grab the spotlight. The fast bowler was largely unnoticed before blooming in the last season for his domestic side Dolphins. The surge of Kagiso Rabada in the national team blocked his path but hard work finally seems to be paying off for them.

10. Kagiso Rabada – 5/10:

Kagiso Rabada wasn’t at his best in this series. The right arm fast bowler, who is rated as the best fast bowling talent in the country, could pick only 4 wickets in 4 matches at an expensive economy of close to 7 runs. The downslide in his performance seems to be due to the workload more than anything else.

Since the beginning of 2016, no frontline paceman has played as many matches as Rabada who has featured in a total of 27 ODIs. It was highly anticipated that the Proteas might opt to rest the 21-year-old but that didn’t happen.

11. Kyle Abbott – 7.5/10:

Fast bowler Kyle Abbott featured in just the last two games of the series.  He was the wrecker in chief for Australia in the 4th match where he claimed 4/40 to help his team rattle the opposition for just 167 and setting up an easy win. The performance also earned him a Man of the Match award. The final ODI was also an impressive one for him and proved his worth once again taking 2/48 playing a key role in restricting Australia for just 296 during their quest of 328 runs.

12. Dale Steyn – 6/10:

It was a mixed series for the veteran Dale Steyn who could manage just 5 wickets in 4 matches. The fiery fast bowler had a goos start to the series taking 2/65 and 1/37 in the first two high scoring games. The third encounter at Durban will not be a match he would like to remember.

Steyn conceded 96 runs during the high scoring match. While he took two wickets to compensate for the amount of runs he shelled, Steyn achieved the unwanted distinction of registering the most expensive figures by a South Africa bowler in ODIs. The final ODi was also a silent affair for him.

13. Imran Tahir – 8.5/10:

Leg-spinner Imran Tahir displayed great consistency throughout the series. His quicker ones and googlies were tough to counter and frustrated the Aussies to great extent. Most of his strikes were match turning and brought South Africa back into the game most of the time.

His wickets column never returned empty. Tahir always made sure he created himself the opportunity to celebrate wickets in his unique zestful manner. In all, he concluded the series with 6 wickets in 4 matches with best bowling figures of 2/42 which came in the final ODI.

14. Aaron Phangiso – 7.5/10:

Phangiso feature din only one match this series but did not fail to impress. The left arm spinner was one of the top performers with the ball during the 4th ODI at Port Elizabeth. He took 2/17 in his 4.4 overs spell to played a strong part in bundling out Australia for just 167 in that game.

15. Dwaine Pretorius – 5/10:

All-rounder Dwaine Pretorius was given his chances by skipper Faf du Plessis. The 27-year-old has seen a meteoric rise in his cricket fortunes after having suffered two career threatening injury during his younger years. The medium pacer did not disappoint and returned with figures of 0/42 and 1/33 in the two games he played before making way for his experience teammate Wayne Parnell. His start at the international level hasn’ been bad. But, he is yet to show enough with bat and ball to suggest that he has a future at the highest level.