Gone are the days when the Australians were deemed to be an unbeatable team. Losses of many key players and out of form seniors have made them start from the scratch. After their dismal outing in the 2011 World Cup the team has undergone many changes. While Ricky Ponting was relieved of his captaincy duties, Tim Nielsen has resigned. This seems to be the right time for Aussie Second Coming. But there is a slight problem. They have many high class opponents to get over. India the world champions in the ODI format, England the T20 World Champions and the ever powerful South Africa have upset many teams with high quality cricket. So the newly appointed captain Michael Clarke does not have an easy task at hand. Though the young Aussies performed well against the Sri Lankans and took a lot of heart from that series but South Africa is another cup of tea.
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| Shane Watson During his Match winning Innings in 1st T20 |
Australian cricket team would be under constant pressure all through their tour of South Africa. Cricketing history says when a cricketing super power falls from their position of supremacy; they find it hard to regain the same position. But as far as the young Australian team is concerned they are performing very well in South Africa. In the 2 International T20s and 3 ODIs they have shown their mettle.
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| Morne Morkel Picks up a Wicket |
The tour started off with the International T20 matches. First match was played in Cape Town and the Australians won the match by five wickets. Batting first South Africa put up a competitive total of 146/7. They were aided by a fine knock of 67 from 53 balls by J.P. Duminy. Among the Aussie bowlers Patrick Cummins impressed all with his spell of 3 wickets for 25 runs. When it came to Australia’s turn with the bat they reached 147 runs losing only 5 wickets. Shane Watson was the star in the run chase by scoring 52 of 30 balls and supported by little contributions from Shaun Marsh (25 of 19 balls), David Hussey (25 of 27 balls) and Cameron White (28 of 22 balls). The second T20 was staged in Johannesburg and South Africa came back strongly to win this match by 3 wickets. Australia batted first and got to a total of 147/8 with notable contributions coming from the skipper Cameron White (39 of 26 balls) and Mitchell Marsh (36 of 21 balls). Regular fall of wickets did not let the Aussies consolidate. South Africa chased down the total with 3 wickets still intact. Graeme Smith laid a solid start (24 of 22 balls), then Johan Botha (34 of 28 balls) and Juan Theron (31 of 16 balls) completed the victory.
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| Young Australian Bowlers were Disciplined all through |
Next in was turn for the ODI series to commence. Both the teams had a point to prove after the level ending T20 series. First ODI at Centurion was marred by rain interruption but the Aussies got off to a winning star. They won the match by 93 runs according to the Duckworth Lewis method. Australia batted first and got to a total of 183/4 in 29 overs before rain stopped play. Ricky Ponting showed glimpses of his former self with a fine innings of 63 from 77 balls while Michael Clarke (44 of 48 balls) and Michael Hussey (30 of 21 balls) also chipped in. South Africa came out to chase a reduced total due to the rain delay. But they managed only 129 all out. Only significant contributions to the innings were provided by Hashim Amla (24 of 32 balls) and Faf du Plessis (27 of 20 balls). Mitchell Johnson and Patrick Cummins bagged 3 wickets each. Second ODI was played in Port Elizabeth and as expected South Africa made a strong comeback. They beat the Australians by 80 runs. Batting first South Africa amassed a formidable total of 303/6. Jacques Kallis was the leading scorer with 76 of 88 balls. There were many other significant contributions from Graeme Smith (57 of 69 balls), J.P. Duminy (56 of 58 balls) and David Miller (59 of 51 balls). Though Australia was given a solid start by David Warner who scored 74 of 97 balls yet the following batsmen could not keep up the tempo and they were bowled out for 223. Morne Morkel bagged 4 wickets to finish the route. There was an intense tussle expected in the last ODI at Durban and the match lived upto its expectation. Batting first South Africa put up a meagre total of 22/6 in seam friendly conditions. Though Hashim Amla (52 of 72 balls) and Jacques Kallis (54 of 74 balls) started out well but disciplined Australian bowling restricted the South Africans. When chasing the total Australia also had their share of problems. But the cool and calm Michael Hussey saw the visitors through with his unbeaten knock of 45 of 64 balls. Thus Australia clinched the ODI series 2-1.
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| Jacques Kallis & Graeme Smith in 2nd ODI |
The teams will now gear up to carry on the contest onto the Test arena with a two test series coming up. It’s been a tough tour for the Aussie boys and so far they have coped well to the pressure.
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