Concussed sub unlikely hero as Australia escape with win in 1st ODI v SA

 



After demolishing South Africa 3-0 in the T20I series , Australia started their preparations for the World cup with a close win over South Africa in the first of 5 ODIs played at Bloemfontein and who would have thought that the man of the match of this game was  not in the original Australia XI for this match 


Marnus Labuschagne's test career took momentum after he came out as a concussed substitute in the Lords Ashes test in 2019 replacing a concussed Steve Smith and there he saved the test . Now here in this ODI Marnus came out again as a concussed sub to replace Cameron Green who was hit a sickening blow on the head against a sharp bouncer from Rabada 


Australia won the toss and put South Africa in to bat on a pitch that had variable bounce and many balls were keeping low or shooting through.  The hosts had a poor start with DeKock (11) caught off a skier of Stoinis and soon Van Dussen (8) was runout in a terrible misunderstanding with Bavuma. Markram (19) looked promising but flattered to deceive , Klaasen (14) was bowled  by a shooter from Stoinis  and Miller (0) was snapped up by Hazlewood to leave South Africa at   100/5 . 



Marco Jansen joined Bavuma and they had a 57 run stand  after which Jansen (32) was bowled by Hazlewood after playing some impressive shots . This led to some rapid fall of wickets and it appeared as South Africa wont cross 200 but  Temba Bavuma played a heroic knock of 114 nouout as he singlehandedly held the innings together . On this pitch the modern methods of scoring quick runs did not work as South Africa lost wickets in clumps.  Bavuma was 79 when the 9th  wicket fell but he unleashed his shots during the last wicket stand and finished on an outstanding 114 notout on a tough batting pitch . For Australia, Hazlewood took 3 wickets while Stoinis took 2 wickets and the rest got one wicket each .


In reply Australia lost Warner (0) early with Jansen rattling his stumps but Head and Marsh played explosive shots . However Australia lost regular wickets with Marsh (17) , Inglis (1) & Carey (3) went cheaply while Head (33) perished to another skier . Meanwhile Green was hit a sickening blow by Rabada on his head and had to retire hurt. After Carey was bowled by Coertzee , in walked Marnus Labuschagne at 72/5 as a concussed sub and after recently being left out from the odi world cup squad . With 2 more wickets going after that and Abbot (9)  getting dismissed at 113/7 , situation looked hopeless for Australia.  


However Marnus and Ashton Agar got their act together and after an initial flurry of boundaries both settled down well realizing that they needed to play a steady game to get closer to the target .Thus both rotated strike judiciously and struck the loose balls and finally reached the target with a 112 run invaluable partnership with Manus finishing on a matured knock of 80 notout while Ashton Agar played a great supporting knock of 48 notout as Aussies won by 3 wickets . However Australia must revisit their strategy to be ultra positive  even after powerplay as it may not bring the desired results always . 


For the South Africans both Rabada and Coertzee took 2 wickets each but overall South Africa bowlers were inconsistent.

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