CricDigs Blogs

South Africa just about managed to win the first of the one-day internationals against Australia. They looked almost defeated on more than once occasion but managed to pull it off in front of a full-capacity crowd at the MCG.

They managed to win by a three-wicket margin but the contest was much closer than that. Proteas’ victory was carved out by Morkel, who had been waiting to launch himself as an all-rounder in the side. He eventually hit a quick-fire 40 as the MCG crowd looked on in total disbelief. The Aussies bowling wasn’t that bad.

In fact, it was pretty good at least during the first 15 overs but eventually some consistent batting from the South African middle-order ensured that they were in with a chance as long as someone could strike the ball hard towards the end of the innings and this is exactly what Albie Morkel did.

One thing that worked in the favour of the Proteas was that they had the luxury of the final overs being a part of the powerplay. Morkel was supported by Botha as they scored 50+ runs to secure the match for their side. Australia had initially set up a pretty good score of 271. Shaun Marsh was very impressive as usual during the Aussie batting display but they missed the firepower to score heavily during the last five overs. Haddin and Cameron White did little to accelerate the scoring as the innings came to an end.

Proteas tried out a new opening combination with Smith no longer a part of this series and lost some early wickets. It was Duminy, who appears to have taken a liking to the Aussie bowling attack, who laid the foundation for the innings. However, the real surprise came in the form of McKenzie who was asked to bat in the middle order and he came out trumps by scoring a very precious half century. Finally, the game was secured with the blitz of Albie Morkel whose big-hitting reputation is now being backed with his performances.