Australia 329/5 [Aaron Flinch 109, Steve Smith 73*, DA Warner 53, Shane Watson 40, M Morkel 2/84] beat South Africa 256 All out [H Amla 102, AB deVilliers 52, Q de Kock 47, M Starc 4/32, Hazelwood 3/51] by 73 runs. 

A very strong batting and bowling performance by mentally tough Australia out gunned South Africa in the third ODI at Manuka Oval, Canberra taking them to 2-1 lead in the five match ODI series on Wednesday.

The same teams playing in different surfaces over the last week at three different surfaces in two venues Perth and Canberra played so differently.

In the first and the third Australia posted over 300 runs and won easily. But at the second ODI at Perth fast furious Protean fast bowlers shocked and awed the same Australian team.  When two teams of equal strength meet on sporting surfaces team that makes minor mistakes pay at the end. In both matches that South Africans lost they appeared to be cruising at some stages while chasing. But as is the characters of Australian cricket they never say die till death. If given any sniff they are so efficient in turning the table.

On Wednesday, after their disastrous performance with the bat in the second ODI, Australia were looking very sharp and different right from the start. The team visited Australian War Memorial Museum the day before and appeared to have taken inspiration from the memories of the Australian war heroes.

Winning the toss and batting first Australian openers blasters Warner and Flinch were in belligerent mood. Wicket was easy paced and South African pacers took time to adjust. They were particularly severe on previous match hero Morkel. The opening pair rocketed to 118 by 20th over when Warner made the first mistake after scoring 53 in 50 deliveries. But by then a solid platform was laid. Flinch was moving smoothly and willing Warner pairing with him kept the temp going. Another 71 runs were added in 13 overs till Watson was removed by part timer Behardein for 40. Flinch was going strong and with Smith started toying with virtually one track protean bowling. Flinch went on scoring his century and got out at 109 in 127 deliveries punctuated with 9 explosive boundaries and three sixes.

But the most important innings of the match was played by Smith. His unbeaten 73 in 55 deliveries almost batted the visitors out of the game. By the time overs ran out Australia was sitting pretty at 329/5 wickets. This Australian team now has so much of depth in batting and bowling for limited over cricket in Australian condition.

South Africa also made spirited reply through classy Amla and talented de Kock. The opening pair matching the home side raced to 108 by the 19th over when de Kock attempting to pull a quick short ball of Hazelwood top edged to Marsh.

Australian pacers were also struggling with the low bouncy wickets. Amla was very severe with Kane Richardson early on. But Starc and Hazelwood adjusted their length to the condition and were not overawed even when Amla and de Villiers appeared to run away with the match with a rapid 4th wicket partnership of 76.

Visitors appeared to be cruising when this pair was batting. But a sudden rush of blood by de Villiers brought his down fall when he tried to whack Richardson out of the ground and was struck on the pad plumb in front. This started the slide. Amla scoring a brilliant century could not push on. Neither could David Miller and the rest.

By that time Starc and Hazelwood sensing blood subdued any possibility of tail wagging. Starc who could only come to the side as Johnson was given rest to prepare for test match against India bowled some superb fast inswing Yorkers. South African tail did not have the quality to counter penetrative Australian bowling. The last 6 wickets crumbled with in 30 runs. Australia won by a huge margin of 73 and went 2-1 up in the series.

Australia appears to be finding a great combination for their ODI side with the triangular series Australia –England – India looming and ICC World Cup not very far. They have so many options in bowling now. A fit again Clark will give more solidity to batting. They only need the spinners to support the high quality pacers. May be Maxi factor will work.

On the other hand South African pace bowlers appear to struggle if they do not get bouncy track. They cannot adjust their line and length to different wickets.

In the slog overs at the death they lose ideas. Bowlers like Steyn and Philander do not bowl many Yorkers. They were feeding smith yesterday with deliveries to his liking and got punished. They need Duminy back for both batting and bowling. With long tail they cannot expect to win matches against major teams consistently.

BDST: 0904 HRS, NOV 20, 2014