ODI Cricket: From destructive bowling to explosive batting

In the previous MTN ODI at SuperSport Park the bowling from Dale Steyn and Wayne Parnell lead to the demise of the Australians. At Sahara Park Newlands in Cape Town it was the batting of Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers that put the game beyond the reach of Ricky Ponting’s men. After finally winning a toss in the home series, Graeme Smith elected to bat first, knowing well that chasing a total at Newlands is an almost impossible task. The opening pair of Smith and Gibbs was ineffective; they gave way for Kaills and de Villiers to take control.

It must be said that the bowling from Mitchell Johnson built the pressure on the openers, Johnson finished with figures of 10 overs, 2 maidens, 32 runs taking 4 of the 6 wickets that fell in the Proteas innings.

Kaills and de Villiers both went to half centuries as they built their partnership, taking South Africa from 50/2 to 164/3. This partnership was the foundation that allowed the rest of the batsmen room to play shots. Duminy, Morkel and Boucher all scored at more than a run a ball. In the final over of the innings Roelof van der Merwe came to the wicket, with four balls remaining everyone was suggesting he take a single and let Boucher do the rest, but Roelof had other plans. He flashed at the first one, swung wildly at the second, and then knocked a massive six to square leg. This man has passion; he wears his inexperience on his sleeve. I can’t wait to see this young player mature into a regular in the Proteas side. South Africa posted 289/6 after their 50 overs.

With the knowledge that the highest successful run chase at Newlands was 229, the South Africans were confident. The spectacular bowling carried over from the previous game, with Dale Steyn and Wayne Parnell restricting the run rate. On the back of the good work the pace bowlers had done, the new spin bowling partnership of Botha and van der Merwe came into play. Roelof van der Merwe, taking 3 wickets for just 37 runs from his 10 overs, was the pick of the bowling attack.

Australia batted well in the end to score 264/7, something the Proteas should keep an eye on. Looking forward to the fourth MTN ODI in Port Elizabeth on Monday the Proteas will be confident, both their bowling attack and middle order batting attack have performed well. It’s time for our openers to perform, leading 2-1; I’ll back them to win the series.