Australia v South Africa T20/ODI Series

Teams for the 1st T20 at Adelaide Oval

Australia:
AJ Finch*, CL White, SR Watson, BR Dunk†, NJ Reardon, JP Faulkner, BCJ Cutting, PJ Cummins, KW Richardson, CJ Boyce, DE Bollinger

South Africa:
Q de Kock†, RR Hendricks, RR Rossouw, JP Duminy*, DA Miller, F Behardien, R McLaren, WD Parnell, KJ Abbott, K Rabada, Imran Tahir

Australia won the toss and has decided to bat.

White very lucky to be out there still.
Tahir drops an easy catch at deep backward square leg. He should have swallowed that.

Kagiso Rabada bowling the some excellent pace. Kid's only 19, got s brilliant future. 

Slightly unamused that Marchant de Lange isn't playing...

I wish young Rabada well.

Cracking catch from Behardien at cover point.

Aus 42/2 after 5.5

Mate of mine went to school with Rabada. He won't shut up about it. Not sure how I feel about players being fast tracked to senior level just because they did well in the juniors. Rabada hasn't really done anything at franchise level to justify a spot... but hey, look how well that worked with De Kock

He did well, Raf. Very composed and he looks the part already in his first international match.

Tight bowling and good fielding from SA. Really put the squeeze on Oz. 144 runs doesn't look like much of a score. About 30-40 runs short I'd say. Depends on how our guys bowl and field.

TBH since Ntini retired, the Proteas have been looking to a coloured fast bowler to take on Ntini's legacy. Philander's done well, but he's not got the X Factor that Rabada could provide in the coming years.

A schedule which has your players split between two continents can't ever be called reasonable.

I watched most of the first innings. South Africa took some cracking catches, and their ground fielding was of the standard you've come to expect. Apart from that the cricket was very very ordinary.

I fear cricket is fast going down the route of football where apart from the odd tournament the main product is no longer internationals.

I did like the look of Rabada though.

They had Richie Benaud do a summer preview before the match, Mike.

It was your typical Ch 9 promotion where he went through all the "what's in store for you viewers" leading up to next year's Ashes.
He sounded a little more frail than a year or 2 ago but he still has that impeccable delivery and style. I think he does the broadcasting from his home now.

Yes, it's a bit of a nothing match/series in regards to the selections for this one, however, an easy way to ease into the upcoming months when the stakes will get higher. I don't mind that in a way. It's good to watch some new players exhibit their wares in this format and hopefully get more opportunities later in ODIs and Tests.

was suprised to see Ben Dunk with the gloves...im a huge of fan of Tim Paine, and hope that he gets back in the side soon..

If australia can keep the kid Cummins fit, plus the likes of Pattinson, Hazlewood etc they are gonna have some bowling attack. Cummins looks a class apart.

dismal from SA it really was...Mclaren against any bowler with any sort of pace looks dreadful he really does!

aussies off to a flyer.. 27-0 from 3

JP into the attack in the 4th over!

That's more like it.

The win was set up by the sustained pressure of our bowling attack early in the SA innings, which I must say... does look pretty lethal.

Cameron Boyce is already being compared to the next Warne or McGill (which is a bit unfair on the guy) but he does seem to have a young & cool head. I'd like to see James Muirhead given another chance soon too. Maybe in the ODIs. It would be nice to have more options in the leg spin department at Test level as well. For me, the current situation bodes well for the future. It's all about confidence with the ball, after all, and that makes for exciting cricket to watch.

The final match is on here tomorrow night. It's just down the road (a mile or 2) from me but I'll probably just watch it from home.
I don't think SA will play as badly as they did at the MCG last night. They do have a tendency to bounce back strongly though and once they get on top of their opposition they are a very hard team to stop. Australia will have to play at their best again and try and control proceedings in a similar way as they did in Melbourne if they want to finish this series on a high note.

SA 145/6 in their 20 overs.
Very good start from the openers but the innings slowed down considerably after they got out.

Australia currently 8 overs into the chase. 61/3

Make that 62/4 with Watson mistiming a shot and holing out at extra cover.

Well, we lost. Well played to the Australian team. Felt more like an 'A' series, tbh, but still, good entertainment throughout

So it should pretty much be 1-1 in the ODI series soon.
A paltry 154 run total from Oz.
These two (AB and Faf) should walk it in from here.
Only 50 runs or so needed with only 32 overs left.

Josh Hazlewood gets two in one over and game is well and truly back on. 

34 needs. Hazlewood and Johnson looking for the kill.

AB batting like a madman. Playing a shot a minute.

South Africa win by 3 wickets. Miller guides the chase home with 22*

Josh Hazlewood bowled magnificently and bagged 5-31. The kid's surely gonna get a long due Test cap in Brisbane.

Jeez, some redonkulous fielding from Faf du Plessis. Some sweet hitting from Smith. Those last five overs might be my favourite five overs in ODI this year.

Some seriously poor bowling by Morkel today.

Beautiful conditions here guys.
SA should do well with the bat too... if they keep their concentration. Liking the look of Hazelwood here. We need a breakthrough soon. (wink)

Starc did well with the ball....and was bowling quick

Not bad for our 2nd XI, KP_f.  

Luckily for us the experiment without Mitch worked.
SA looked to be humming along nicely with Hashim and AB at the crease. Those 2 wickets were crucial. Miller probably unlucky too with that lbw from Starc.

Theses 2 teams are pretty close... always great to watch. The last two matches could go either way. There will definitely be more juggling around in the Australian team with players involved in SS matches to prepare for India. It's a strange sort of series, however it's also actually quite interesting. Both sides have their eyes on grander goals and will need to manage players as they best see fit over the coming months with so many ODIs and the Test Series ahead.

It's good quality cricket among who I reckon are the top contenders for the world cup

Australia wrapped up the ODI series pretty comprehensively today...some fine play from Smith in particular.

But have to say I am not very impressed with SA on what I've seen of these limited over games. Batting seems to depend too much on ABDV ; bowling apart from Steyn very inconsistent , and the fielding has fallen apart under pressure more than once . Don't look likely to contend for the title on this form.

Australia though , look well equipped to the point where I'm not sure they need to worry about Clarke's fitness too much. In their own conditions , they are looking more and more like favourites.

Bizarre team selection from South Africa. Morkel had one great game and one terrible game. Yet he was dropped. But McLaren and Parnell keep getting selected despite offering very little.

Without Jean-Paul Duminy the batting is too top heavy. Berhardien and Rossouw didn't really press their claims.

Far too many questions left needing answers for the Proteas...

SA have started the process of trying team combination scenarios.....to try and lock their most optimal one.

How many more ODIs do they have before the World cup ?

One more here then another 5 v WI at home before the WC.

Little one eyed to claim our batting is overly dependent on AB, Alfie. Wasn't even three months ago Faf was two runs away from being the first batter to score four centuries in a series. De Kock is one of only four to score three ODI centuries on the bounce, and Amla has the best Centuries to innings ratio in ODI cricket history. We don't lack firepower in our top five. Of course AB is the ace in the pack, but it's not a light lightweight pack. As for our bowling. Well, Steyn is Steyn, but even Tahir is a monster in the abbreviated formats. Morkel is mercurial, but that's him. Our real problem lies in batters 7 & 8, Behardien and Mclaren.

Yeah , raf ; I admit to oversimplifying a little...but I was talking about this current series. And I maintain SA have been uncharacteristically poor throughout ( with a few notable exceptions).
With Australia losing one of their main bowlers after just three overs on Friday , they really should have kicked on after Miller & de Villiers partnership : but they completely lost the plot. And the bowling , while it was good in parts , cannot escape criticism for the string of leg side full tosses that that made the Australian chase much easier than it should have been.
I don't deny Faf and de Kock have done well before; but they've been rubbish here , and they need to get some form back fast if they're going to compete seriously for the crown.
I'm not one eyed , as I don't even support Australia. But I agree your problem is 7/8 . You can't carry bits and pieces players who aren't quite up to it and hope to win a World Cup.

I'm actually disappointed in a way , as I thought SA would be stronger. Frankly I hope they prove me wrong. But I have my doubts.

Yeah, it's a little strange that they've all seemed to simultaneously lose form, but to be completely honest, I'm not particularly worried. The world cup is still four months away, and a win here would have been nice, but the time jump is to big for it to have meant anything realistically. The main purpose of the tour was to hopefully tie up final positions, which unfortunately has not happened. Russouw hasn't taken his chances, and Mclaren and Behardien have only served to confirm how poor I generally think they are. Still, it's a world cup, and we have no shortage of match winners to win the thing.

Also, in isolation, maybe this tour is a bit of a balls up, but, last eighteen months, we've won in Pakistan, beaten India, won in Sri Lanka, and won in New Zealand. The trend is upward, and that's all you can ask for.

For me, the ideal XI is basically picked just a few more spots to play for

De Kock
Amla
Du Plessis
ABDV
JPD
Miller
----
----
Steyn
Morkel
Tahir

I'm pretty confident that with some luck, this is a team which can win the trophy.

^Parnel is a good fit at No. 8...whenever I have seen him...I have been impressed with his abilty to bowl full , fast and accurate...and is a good No.8 bat.

so they really need to sort out No.7 who in my view should be a batsman first who can bowl also....bearing in mind Duminy is the 5th bowler already

And SA is a top contender.......only behind Aus


my pick for top4

1) Aus
2) SA
3) Pak
4) Ind

Well this is more like it from SA !

Rossouw showing why he was in the team ...and now Behardien doing a great job of finishing the innings with a bang (looks a different player today)...and of course de Kock who played a terrific innings

280 at the SCG will surely test Australia , as long as SA bowl with discipline.

Obviously they have taken note of my little pep talk

No surprise de Kock scored a ton. He's quality. Our gun batter at the top. Behardien might have just snuck a spot though, which is literally the worst thing that could have happened this series.

I suppose that what happens when SA aren't forced to rely on AB a lot of the time. Someone else has to come to the fore when he's unable to play.

Anyway, superb knock from de Kock. Superstar written all over him.

Nevertheless , it is starting to look as if 280 won't be enough. Finch playing brilliantly , they're going at 6/7 per over and tons of batting to come...
Without Steyn I'm not sure SA have much hope of stopping this chase.

well Aus and Ind are demonstrating amazing batting prowess ...atleast in their home conditions...and for Aus the Wcup is in their home conditions

I'm not too disappointed with the series defeat. Like I said earlier, we've been pretty good for the last two years, and better failure now than in four months. The antipodean tour was never really about results (although of course, winning was preferable), but about exposing a few players to foreign conditions, and hopefully, solving a few selection conundrums. We sorta achieved the former. Not sure about the latter. Overall, I'd say I'm still optimistic about the Cup. So we've been caned a bit, but there's been more than the odd world cup where we went in as favourites and got caned anyway. I say we wait and see with this experiment. If Dale fires in Australia, I think we win. If he doesn't, there's enough quality to keep us there or thereabouts.

I am very concerned about our bowling, we just have no plan in the final ten overs.

to be fair Bilt. I don't think there's a team in cricket which has an actual plan for the last ten overs. The four fielder rule basically put the onus on the batting side. If they get it right, there's really nothing you can do. I don't think I've seen a team get the last ten overs right with any degree of consistency since the rule change. Your best bet is to get wickets throughout the innings which means the batting team has to wait longer and longer to launch. It's more worrying that along with England, we seem to be the only country with no clue of how to bat the last ten... But when your 7 & 8 average 18 and 22... there's no point in being hopeful

Not so sure mate, look at the last three ODI's, our bowling is extremely inaccurate, it doesn't look like out bowlers know whether they want to bowl Yorkers or not, leg side for easy runs, full tosses.

It has been bad

As for our batting we are short a proper recognised batsman, we don't have a decent allrounder.

We have

De Kock
Amla
du Plessis
AB

They are in a different class to the rest of our batsmen

JP is good

Then there are a host of inconsistent performers

Rossouw
Miller
Behardien
McLaren - his bowling has been under par
Parnell - inconsistent with bat and ball
Peterson - not good enough bowler or batsman

Too many questions