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2nd ODI : Australia South Africa locked 1-1, 3 games to go.Filed under
SA in AUS ODI Series 2009
AUSvSA Hobart Jan 09
Forget retired Glen McGrath or even Shane Warne who didn't play onedayers from January 2003 (except one off ODI vs Asia XI in Jan 2005) before kissing International cricket goodbye in 2007, first choice Brett Lee is out with foot injury. Stuart Clarke recently had a surgery whereas Mitchell Johnson is rested before upcoming revenge tour to South Africa. Shane Watson has been sent back to domestic cricket for his repeated injury woes and Aussie selectors don't want Peter Siddle's test cricket ability to confuse with crazy/bizarre limited overs cricket.All rounder Andrew Symonds is still gone fishing! Result : Australia tried defending healthy 272 in first ODI at Melbourne and failed. Today in second ODI at Hobart (scorecard), South Africans came with clear plan - win or lose toss - we're going to bowl first & chase down anything, again, and boosted batting by including AB de Villers. Proteas' plan almost worked, but not quite! Invited in to bat first, Australia began with debutant David Warner who scored scorching eithty in his debut T20 with fast improving Shaun Marsh but opening partnership didn't come off. There was plenty of nip & extra bounce for Makhaya Ntini and Dale Steyn with new ball who removed debutant in 5th over of the day. Amazingly, Marsh had no trouble cracking crisp cover drives & cut shots which improved captain Ricky Ponting coming in at his conventional batting position at number 3 and these two layed perfect foundation for a huge total with 135 runs before being saperated in 30th over. Partnership between Ricky Ponting & Shaun Marsh should have been enough for other batters to send target for South Africans well over 300 but since set didn't opt for 5 over batting powerplay, which ultimately lead to their dismissal while accelerating and exactly like Proteas have come back time and again on this tour so far - they pegged Aussies back to only 249.. despite dropping 3 catches in all. Hashim Amla played onto his wickets second time in a row & Herschelle Gibbs dismissed off a bad short after settling down for his 19. similar case happened in previous ODI as well for him too. Rapair work was down by Jaques Kallis & AB de Villiers but they too threw it away without finishing the job. Jean-Paul Duminy played his natural self for 33 ball 35 to keep Proteas in hunt who had strategically delayed their 5 over batting power play until 44th over exactly like they did in previous game. This time, Aussie bowlers, specially debutant Ryan Harris & seasoned Nathan Bracken were ready. The only six of this 100 over ODI, hit in the 100th over by Mark Boucher, was not enough to score 17 runs they required off last 6 balls & fell South Africans fell short by 5 runs. Racist Comments : against Morne Morkel were heard by a policeman from a spectator today at Bellerive Oval ground in Hobart, although the cricketer himself heard only some part of it. Spectator was arrested by the authorities and Cricket Australiara has also apologized to South African board.. this incidence comes in second as allrounder Wayne Parnell was rumored to have disturbed with lazer light in second Twenty20 International.
Related ArticlesSA in AUS ODI Series 2009
AUSvSA Hobart Jan 09
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