Lucknow : South African all round dominance handed Australia their 2nd defeat in a row. Quinton De Kock’s 109(106), Kagiso Rabada’s 3/33 crushed Australia by heavy 134 runs, at Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium, Lucknow.
Defending 312 runs, South African bowlers removed top 3 – Mitchell Marsh, David Warner and Steve Smith within powerplay.
The next 7 overs saw the middle order collapse, with the dismissal of Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis. Australia could neither score at a faster rate nor save wickets.
A 69 runs partnership between Mitchell Starc and Marnus Labuschagne took place, before the pair got dismissed in successive overs. The last pair of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazelwood too didn’t last long as they got out sooner.
The whole Australian batting crumbled to 177 runs, facing heavy defeat by 134 runs. Kagiso Rabada was instrumental in thrashing Aussies, picking 3 wickets. Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Marco Jansen picked 2 wickets each, Lungi Ngidi picked 1.
In the 1st Innings, South Africa batted beautifully against Australian pace attack. Quinton De Kock took Aussies to the cleaners, scoring his 2nd consecutive ton in the tournament. Some short, vital innings of Temba Bavuma, Heinrich Klaasen, Rassie Van Der Dussen, Marco Jansen proved vital. Aiden Markram scored an aggressive 56(44) in the middle to give strong foundation to the Batting. Australian death bowling did a good job stopping South Africa to 311 runs, but proved too much for the out of form middle order to chase.
This is the 1st time since 1992 World Cup Australia have lost 2 consecutive Matches. Their next encounter is against Sri Lanka on this venue. Whereas, South Africa will take on Netherlands at Dharamsala.
Brief Scorecard
1st Innings
Sa : 311-7(50)
Quinton De Kock : 109(106)
Aiden Markram : 56(44)
2nd Innings :
AUS : 177(40.5)
Marnus Labuschagne : 46(74)
SA
Kagiso Rabada : 3/33
Result : South Africa win by 134 runs.
