Markram, Jansen star as South Africa pull off ODI series vs Australia

Australia and South Africa locked horns in the fifth and final ODI of the series on Sunday, September 17 at The Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg. Australia captain, Mitchell Marsh won the toss and once again invited South Africa to bat first after the hammering received in the fourth ODI. The hosts didn’t get off to the best of the starts as captain Tema Bavuma got dismissed for a duck in just the second over of the innings.

Quinton de Kock also gave away his start (27 off 39) losing his wicket to Nathan Ellis. Rassie van der Dussen (30 off 48) also gave away his wicket after getting set at the crease to leave South Africa on 80/3. Adam Zampa also had his revenge for his record hammering in the previous fixture as he cleaned up Heinrich Klaasen (6 off 13) to leave the hosts on 103/4.

Aiden Markram (93 off 87) and David Miller (63 off 65) stabilised the innings after four early wickets with their 108-run stand. Marco Jansen (47 off 23) and Andile Phehlukwayo (39* off 19) gave the perfect finish to the innings and propelled their team’s total to 315/9 in their allotted 50 overs.

Zampa was the pick of the bowlers for South Africa with his spell of 3/71 in ten overs while Sean Abbott (2/54) also picked up two wickets.

In reply, Australia lost their opener David Warner (10 off 6) and Josh Inglis (0 off 4) with just 34 runs on the board. However, captain Marsh took the innings ahead with his knock of 71 (56) smashing six fours and six sixes in his innings. He was finally dismissed by Marco Jansen in the 20th over to bring South Africa back in the game.

Marco Jansen ran through Australia’s batting order

After Marsh’s wicket, Jansen also accounted for Marnus Labuschagne (44 off 63) to further bring Australia on the back foot. From there on, there was no recovery for the Kangaroos as they got all out for 193 handing a 122-run win for South Africa. Jansen finished as the pick of the bowlers with his spell of (5/39, 8 overs) while Keshav Maharaj (4/33, 9.1 overs) also picked up four wickets. With this win, South Africa also clinched the series by 3-2 after getting whitewashed in the T20I series.