Five ODIs to remember, courtesy Australia and South Africa
Liam Brickhill03-Nov-2018″It’s always interesting when South Africa play against Australia,” said Dale Steyn in the lead-up to the opening ODI of the series between the two teams that begins on Sunday, and he’s largely right. Australia and South Africa have combined to produce classic encounters across all formats, and that’s particularly true in the annals of one-day cricket. They shared in World Cup semi-final, undeniably the greatest World Cup semi to date, going neck and neck in a tie at Edgbaston in 1999. As they gear up for three important ODIs in the lead-up to another World Cup in England 20 years later, we look back at five other times when the fierce competition between them has produced truly absorbing one-day cricket.Getty ImagesMiracle at the Bullring
Seven years after that Edgbaston semi-final came a match that was even more astonishing than its famous forebear. Edgbaston had seen 426 runs and 10 wickets across two innings resulting in the first ever World Cup tie; the first innings at the Wanderers brought a world record 434 runs all on its own, while in the second South Africa buried the ghosts of ’99 to script a scarcely believable victory by one wicket, with one ball to spare, amid a thunderous Bullring atmosphere. Herschelle Gibbs bettered Ricky Ponting’s 164 with the innings of his life, a sublime 175 from 111 balls, but it all came down to the final over, just as it had done at Edgbaston. In a grandstand finish, Brett Lee removed Andrew Hall with just two needed, No. 11 Makhaya Ntini brought the teams level, and Mark Boucher sealed the result with a punch over mid-on.An indoor tie in Melbourne
Amid the novelty of cricket played in winter, under the roof of the Docklands Stadium in Melbourne, South Africa and Australia reprised what would become familiar roles with their second tie in six meetings. Indeed, the teams added to their unique shared narrative with what ESPNcricinfo’s match report called “a spectacular result at a spectacular venue on a spectacularly peculiar night of sport in Melbourne”. South Africa reached a respectable 226 for 8 in the first innings, a score underpinned by a typically feisty fifth-wicket stand of 87 between Jonty Rhodes and Mark Boucher. Australia had reached 146 for 2 in the 34th over before Nicky Boje and Lance Klusener sparked South Africa’s fightback with the ball, but the masterstroke was skipper Shaun Pollock’s decision to introduce Andrew Hall as a specialist death bowler as late as the 45th over of the innings. In three overs of unerring accuracy, Hall removed Steve Waugh and Michael Bevan for his first two international wickets and gave away just eight runs. In an electric atmosphere soaked up by the 35,724 people present, Shane Warne and Jason Gillespie pinched two fours in the final over but Pollock held his nerve, running Gillespie out off his own bowling and, with two needed off the final ball, denied Australia with a pinpoint yorker. The tie tilted the momentum in the series, and South Africa won the final game by eight runs as, fittingly, the series spoils were shared 1-1.Two years, three ties
South Africa were still hunting their first win of the series going into the third match of five in Potchefstroom in 2002. They seemed to have virtually settled the result when a fired-up Makhaya Ntini nipped out Shane Watson, Andy Bichel and Brett Lee in successive overs and Australia slipped to 223 for 9 in pursuit of the hosts’ 259 for 7, but Jimmy Maher and a 20-year-old Nathan Hauritz brought the teams to yet another pulsating tie – remarkably, their third in a space of just over two years. The pair came together in the 46th over with 37 still required for victory and played with remarkable nerve to set themselves 19 to win off the last two overs and 11 off the last. A high full toss from Jacques Kallis, called no-ball and hit for three by Maher, left Australia needing seven off six balls and five tense tip-and-run singles followed until two were required off the last ball. Maher had paced his innings almost perfectly with 43 from 32, but crucially he was unable to retain the strike for the final delivery. Mark Boucher came up to the stumps but was swiftly sent back by Kallis, who radared in at Hauritz’ toes to keep the teams level once again.Steven Smith comes of age
Heading into the home summer in 2014, Steven Smith was a key player in Australia’s Test side but did not yet have a clear role in the one-day outfit and started the series against South Africa out of the side. An incredible hundred in one of Australia’s finest chases changed all that. Australia had dipped to what was effectively 6 for 98, with Nathan Coulter-Nile’s hamstring injury meaning he was unlikely to bat, when Smith was joined by Matthew Wade at the crease. Together they added 121 for the sixth wicket, reversing the pressure on South Africa. Smith took his team to the brink, and brought up his second ODI hundred, and though he didn’t quite last the distance, South Africa’s 267 for 8 was chased down with an over to spare. Remarkably, this was the first time Australia had beaten South Africa in an ODI at the MCG, Smith ending their jinx and launching his own batting renaissance. Starting from that home summer, Smith averaged 71.46 over the 2014-15 season, and then extended his good run in the years that followed.Hayden’s World-Cup blitzkrieg
South Africa beat Australia in their first ever World-Cup match against them in 1992, but the Australians have otherwise bossed most of their encounters at world tournaments – the Edgbaston tie notwithstanding. At the 2007 World Cup, South Africa went into their group game against Australia having bullied Scotland and Netherlands with displays of power-hitting, but in St Kitts Matthew Hayden gave them a taste of their own medicine. He blitzkrieged a 66-ball hundred – the fastest in World Cup history – as Australia racked up their third 300-plus total in a row, but their aura of invincibility seemed to have been punctured when Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers launched South Africa’s chase with a rollicking 160-run opening stand. Three events halted the frenetic chase: Shane Watson’s throw to run out de Villiers for 92, Jacques Kallis’ laboured effort from No. 3, and the cramps that took the vim out of Smith’s belligerent innings. Chasing Australia’s 377, South Africa had history in their grasp when they rocketed past 200 in the 29th over with just one wicket down, but they collapsed to 294 all out and Australia marched inexorably on to lift the World Cup for the third time in a row. Hayden not only left the ground as the fastest scorer of a World Cup hundred, but he was also granted honorary St Kitts citizenship and a life membership at the Royal St Kitts Golf Club.
