Australia, South Africa gear up for winner-takes-all finale

HOBART: There’s everything to play for in the final One-day International between Australia and South Africa here on Sunday (today).

Australia breathed life into the series with a narrow seven-run victory in the second ODI on Friday, and in the process arrested a streak of seven straight ODI losses – it was their longest losing streak in the format.

It was a whole different performance to the one the home side dished out in the first ODI – they were bundled out for 152 and suffered a six-wicket loss.

The fightback came via the bowlers. Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood were the main protagonists as Australia successfully defended 232 by seven runs.

That, however, doesn’t take away from the fact that the batting still needs work. Aaron Finch, Chris Lynn and Alex Carey all scored 40s, but none of them managed to kick on and with wickets falling all around them, it was not a terribly pleasing story.

The bowlers are holding their own – they managed to put up a fight in the first ODI as well – and if the batsmen can do better, Australia might just be able to swing things their way in the decider.

South Africa will make that prospect quite difficult, no doubt. And especially so if Kagiso Rabada continues bowling the way he did in Adelaide – his 4-54 was exceptional, and the bounce he extracted significantly troubled the Australians.

Faf du Plessis, after the victory in the first ODI, said his side needed to be ruthless, take whatever chance presented itself and put their foot on the gas. South Africa didn’t manage that in Adelaide – they allowed Australia to put on partnerships and didn’t stitch together many of their own.

They will hope to correct that come Sunday in what promises to be a thrilling finale to a short but sweet series.