Published: Jun 07, 2016, 12:04 AM (IST)
Edited: Jun 07, 2016, 11:18 PM (IST)
Australia take on South Africa in match 3 of the Tri-Nation series 2016 at Guyana. Australia cruised past West Indies in their opening match of the series by six wickets and also secured a bonus point along the way. On the other hand, Australia lost their first match against West Indies by four wickets and will want to get off the mark against the world champions. Courtesy of a bonus point, Australia are on top of the table with five points followed by West Indies at four points. South Africa will want to get a win and get off the mark in the series, else they may find it difficult to make it to the final. Full Cricket Scorecard: Australia vs West Indies, Tri-Nation Series 2016, Match 3 at Guyana
Australia put in a professional effort in their match against West Indies with both bat and ball. They managed to restrict the hosts to just 116 after winning the toss and electing to bowl first. Nathan Lyon and Adam Zampa bowled exceptionally well, picking up three wickets apiece. David Warner continued his good run of form from the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016 and guided his side home with a composed 55 not out. Australia had lost a few wickets in quick succession courtesy of some excellent bowling from the West Indies spinners Sunil Narine and Sulieman Benn, but a target of 117 was never going to be enough to trouble Australia.
South Africa had a ordinary outing with the bat in the first match. They managed to get just 188 on the board. Their middle-order failed completely and as a result could not put up a match-winning total. Their bowlers however gave West Indies a run for their money, but Kieron Pollard’s heroics with the bat ensured that the Proteas lost the match by four wickets. Spin again will play a major part in the game against Australia, like it has in the previous two matches of the tournament.
It will be Australia, who will be the confident side. They have Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, who can do some damage up front and have their spinners to back up the fast bowlers’ effort. South Africa will look to their pacers to get them the early breakthroughs, something that they failed to do against West Indies.
It will be an interesting contest. Australia will want to continue their winning run, but do realise they cannot take South Africa for granted as they have the firepower to make a strong comeback in this match.
Squads:
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Rilee Rossouw, Chris Morris, Wayne Parnell, Farhaan Behardien, Aaron Phangiso, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir, Kyle Abbott.
Australia: Steven Smith (c), David Warner, George Bailey, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell,Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade (wk), Adam Zampa
Time: 13:00 local | 17:00 GMT | 22:30 IST
(Pramod Ananth is a reporter at CricketCountry. He has represented Karnataka table tennis under-15, and is a hardcore supporter of Liverpool FC. His Twitter handle is @pramz)
