Filed under AUSvSA Cape Town ODI 2009

Match : Australia vs South Africa, fourth One day International of MTN 5 ODI series.
Venue/Date : St George's cricket ground in Port Elizabeth in South Africa.. 13 April 2009.
Debuts : Shane Harwood (aged 35).
Toss : Australia, elected to field first.
Result : South Africa won by 61 runs.
Series Result : South Africa 3-1 ahead with 1 game to go.
Man of the match : Herschelle Gibbs.
Umpires : Asoka de Silva (Sri Lanka) & Brain Jerlins (South Africa).
Head to head : 2840th ODI overall, it was 76 Australia vs South Africa one day international and now, South Africa have won 35 in comparison to 38 won by Australians. 3 games have tied.

Most of times, when Australians win the toss, they elected to bat first. Today, Ricky Ponting chose to do otherwise. More so to change luck of his team than the conditions. Being a Day one day internationals, Australians had a point to make use of early moisture as it had rained the night before but that didn't happen. South African openers negotiated first 10 overs well, scoring only 43 runs but layed the foundation.

Then, Herschelle Gibbs show started. In partnership with AB de Villiers, Gibbs put on 136 runs from 123 balls, and brought up his 21st ODI century as well. JP Duminy hit some lusty blows towards the end to push Proteas total past 300 run mark.

Australian chase began very well. Brad Haddin and Michael Clarke put on 129 runs in less than 21 overs, but a subdued innings from captain Ricky Ponting and no help from remaining batsmen meant Aussies gave away an unassailable lead to home team.. making the final onedayer at Johannesburg a dead rubber!

21 ODI century for Herschelle Gibbs today, which came after a gap of little over an year. Gibbs scored his 20th ODI century back on 3 February 2008 against West Indies at Johannesburg.

Australia vs South Africa, 4th ODI, Port Elizabeth : 13 April 2009 : Scorecard
South Africa (invited in to bat) = 317 for 6 wickets in 50 overs
Graeme Smith	c Haddin	b Hopes	20	30 balls, 2x4
Harschelle Gibbs	c Clarke	b Backen	110	116 balls, 9x4, 2x6
Jaques Kallis	c Fergusson	b Harwood	17	24 balls, 1x4, 1x6
AB de Villiers	c Fergusson	b Johnson	84	74 balls, 6x4, 3x6
Albie Morkel		b Johnson	4	6 balls
Mark Boucher	not out		29*	25 balls, 3x4, 1x6
JP Duminy	c M Hussey	b Harwood	40	25 balls, 4x4
R van der Merwe
Johan Botha
Wayne Parnell
Dale Steyn
Nathan Bracken = 10-0-64-1 (1wd)		Mitchell Johnson = 10-0-59-2 (3wd)
James Hopes = 10-0-57-1		Shane Harwood = 10-0-57-2 (2wd)
Nathan Hauritz = 7-0-51-0 (2wd)		Michael Clarke = 3-0-22-0
Australia (Target=318 in 50 overs) = 255 for 10 wickets in 45.5 overs
Brad Haddin	c Parnell	b Botha	78	61 balls, 7x4, 4x6
Michael Clarke		b Merwe	50	68 balls, 4x4
Ricky Ponting	c Morkel	b Steyn	53	67 balls, 4x4
Callum Ferguson	st Boucher	b Merwe	3	6 balls
Michael Hussey	lbw	b Merwe	2	9 balls
David Hussey	c&b	b Steyn	20	20 balls, 2x4
James Hopes	c Gibbs	b Parnell	31	28 balls, 3x4
Mitchell Johnson		b Morkel	5	6 balls
Nathan Hauritz		b Steyn	3	5 balls
Nathan Bracken	not out		0	1 ball
Shane Harwood		b Steyn	0	4 balls
Dale Steyn = 7.5-1-44-4 (1wd)		Wayne Parnell = 9-0-64-1
Jaques Kallis = 4-0-25-0 (1wd)		Albie Morkel = 5-0-25-0 (1wd)
Johan Botha = 10-0-48-1		R van der Merwe = 10-0-46-3 (2wd)
South Africa won by 61 runs, leads ODI series 3-1 with 1 more game to go..

Preview : Proteas out to change the vice-versa.

Scorecard : Aus v SA : 3rd ODI, Cape town : 9 April 2009

Scorecard : Aus vs RSA, 4th ODI, Port Elizabeth : 13 April 2009