A superb all-round performance from the Proteas, led with the bat by centurions David Miller and Temba Bavuma, and backed up by their bowlers, led them to a 32-run win over Australia in the Pink Day ODI at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Sunday.
It secured a series win for the hosts, after they opened with a 67-run win in Durban on Thursday, with the final ODI set to be played at the JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom on Wednesday.
Miller crashed nine fours and 12 sixes on his way to a brilliant 142 off just 93 balls, while Bavuma struck 103 off 116 (10×4; 2×6), in helping the Proteas reach 365/9 in their 50 overs batting first.
In response the Aussies were powered by their openers, as Mitchell Marsh hammered 84 off 53 (10×4; 5×6), and Travis Head hit 84 off 76 (12×4; 1×6), but once they were out their innings fell apart.
“It was another good all-round team performance. It started with the bat, it was a bit tricky up front, but we managed to handle that challenge and got ourselves to that total, with an unbelievable innings from David,” said Proteas skipper Bavuma after the match.
“Then the bowlers as well, they held their nerve. We knew they would put us under pressure up front, but we understood that a couple of wickets would put them on the back foot. So it was an all-round team performance.”
Proteas spinners
The Proteas spinners did the early damage, as five of the first six Aussie wickets were taken by Keshav Maharaj, 2/54, Aiden Markram, 1/55, and Bjorn Fortuin, 2/70, while Lizaad Williams, 3/53 and Marco Jansen, 2/53, cleaned things up at the death.
The only other Australian batters to make a dent were Matt Renshaw (32) and Jack Edwards (25), while lower order batter Xavier Bartlett smashed five sixes and two fours in his 50 off 28 in trying to rescue them late on.
The Proteas innings was centred around a 156-run fourth wicket stand between Miller and captain Bavuma, who arrived at the crease as early as the second ball of the match, after the returning Aiden Markram popped a catch straight to Cooper Connelly off Josh Hazlewood off the first ball.
Quinton de Kock (15) skied Hazelwood to keeper Alex Carey in the seventh over, and Matthew Breetzke looked decent striking six boundaries in scoring 34 off 28, before he tamely edged Edwards behind, with the score 93/3 in the 16th over when Miller walked in.
A superb partnership then followed with Bavuma bringing up a well deserved century in the 36th over, but then fell a couple later to leave the Proteas on 249/4 in the 38th.
Miller continued on, slamming his way past his hundred in the 42nd, while he received some help from the Jansen twins, as Marco scored 19 and Duan 27 not out, but a flurry of late wickets helped restrict the Proteas a bit to a lesser total than they were on for.
Edwards picked up the majority of the late wickets, finishing with top figures of 5/67 in his 10 overs, while Hazelwood backed him up with 3/70.
