Key events
6th over: South Africa 26-2 (de Zorzi 17, Breetzke 1) Bartlett has 2/10 from three overs and a ludicrous ODI average of 4.80. He’s not done a lot to earn his success today, but he’ll doubtless have days where he bowls beautifully and can’t buy a dismissal.
WICKET! Rickleton c Inglis b Bartlett 8 (South Africa 23-2)
Bartlett continues to get away with the occasional bad ball, suggesting off-pace deliveries might have the most success this afternoon. De Zorzi mistimes a booming drive to a wide half-volley, then a boundary ball is stopped superbly by Nathan Ellis at extra-cover. South Africa jog a single regardless, but may regret the run because Rickleton is out next ball, driving an edge behind the wicket to a stock delivery angled away from him. Excellent keeping from Inglis, showing quick footwork to move sharply to his left and take first slip out of the equation.
Bartlett has two early. The Proteas are in a pickle.
5th over: South Africa 21-1 (Rickelton 7, de Zorzi 14) Another lovely stroke from de Zorzi, this time only worth three, playing the ball away square from the crease, riding the top of the bounce. Hazlewood takes it personally and rips a change-up bouncer through South Africa’s first drop’s attempted pull. But after returning to his stock length de Zorzi repeats the trick – only with even better timing – sending a beautiful crisp back-foot drive to the point boundary.
4th over: South Africa 12-1 (Rickelton 6, de Zorzi 6) Bartlett continues to bowl dots, even with wide half-volleys, while Rickleton struggles for timing. There is definite carry in this pitch, but it’s probably playing slower than South Africa expect at the moment. Maybe it will quicken up as the day goes on? As if to prove the point Rickleton almost drives a fuller delivery straight to point off the outside half of his blade. De Zorzi then shows him how to do it, committing to an expansive drive, hitting through the line and clobbering the opening boundary of the innings through mid-off.
3rd over: South Africa 7-1 (Rickelton 5, de Zorzi 2) To the surprise of nobody, Hazlewood is banging the ball in on a good length for the most part. When he tries to pitch it fuller he strays onto Rickleton’s pads and the left-hander benefits from a Carey misfield to run three. De Zorzi then opens his account with a couple behind square off his hip.
2nd over: South Africa 2-1 (Rickelton 2, de Zorzi 0) A second slip comes in for the new batter, de Zorzi, and they’re both very happy when the number three plays and misses at his opening delivery. Excellent start for Bartlett who begins with a wicket maiden.
WICKET! Markram c Head b Bartlett 0 (South Africa 2-1)
Xavier Bartlett shares new ball duties and he settles into a neat and tidy line and length to Markram, wobbling the ball away from the right-hander from close to the stumps. Then he slips in a rank delivery on the South African skipper’s pads that he clips straight to Travis Head at midwicket. A gift of a wicket and a dream start for Australia.
1st over: South Africa 2-0 (Rickelton 2, Markram 0) Josh Hazlewood takes the new ball and concedes runs from his second delivery with the left-handed Rickleton presenting the full face of the bat and collecting a handsome two. The follow-up has lovely bounce and carry outside the off stump from over the wicket, suggesting there’s something in this straw-coloured deck for the pacemen. That view is reinforced a couple of deliveries later when Hazlewood draws Rickleton forward and beats the stroke with more encouraging carry through to the keeper.
Out march the two sides into the Great Barrier Reef Arena. Australia top to toe in canary yellow with green accents, South Africa resplendent in forest green with gold piping.
Mackay is on the border of central and northern Queensland, which means as winter melts into spring the weather is glorious. It is a flawless afternoon with blue skies and a proud sun overhead leading to temperatures in the early 20s, the heat kept in check by a breeze coming off the Coral Sea. It’s a full house so hopefully they’re treated to more than two deliveries.
South Africa XI
1 Aiden Markram (c), 2 Ryan Rickelton (wk), 3 Tony de Zorzi, 4 Matthew Breetzke, 6 Tristan Stubbs, 6 Dewald Brevis, 7 Wiaan Mulder, 8 Senuran Muthusamy, 9 Keshav Maharaj, 10 Nandre Burger, 11 Lungi Ngidi
The Proteas go into today’s match without captain Temba Bavuma, who has been rested as part of his workload management relating to his recovery from the hamstring strain he sustained during the WTC Final in June. Tony de Zorzi comes in at number three, while Aiden Markram will stand in as captain. Elsewhere, Senuran Muthusamy comes in for Prenelan Subrayen.
Bavuma will be available to lead the side in the third ODI on Sunday if required.
Australia XI
1 Mitchell Marsh (c), 2 Travis Head, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Cameron Green, 5 Josh Inglis (wk), 6 Alex Carey, 7 Aaron Hardie, 8 Xavier Bartlett, 9 Nathan Ellis, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Josh Hazlewood
One change for the hosts with Xavier Bartlett replacing Ben Dwarshuis. Mitch Marsh assures us he was going to break the habit of a lifetime and bat first had he won the toss.
South Africa win the toss and will bat first
They hardly needed to go through that formality considering Mitch Marsh has won the toss 21 times as captain across T20Is and ODIs and bowled on every occasion.
Preamble
Jonathan Howcroft
Good afternoon everybody and welcome to live OBO coverage of the pinnacle of late-winter sport, the nail-biting race for the AFL & NRL finals the second of a three-match bilateral ODI series between Australia and South Africa. Play gets under way in balmy Mackay at 2:30pm.
This is as off-Broadway as men’s international crickets gets on Australian soil. Coverage is available only on pay TV, host city Mackay has a population of just over 100,000, and the magnificently named Great Barrier Reef Arena can accommodate around ten percent of the local community, if they all decided to clock off early on a Friday and enjoy a couple of sundowners.
This is only the second ever ODI at the venue. The first lasted just two deliveries before it was washed out, back when India met Sri Lanka in the 1992 World Cup.
The home side might not mind that attention is elsewhere, considering the thrashing they received a few nights ago in Cairns. For the first time ever, Australia have been bowled out for under 200 in their last three home ODIs.
In the Top End, the top order repeatedly played off the back foot to Keshav Maharaj on a deck that offered both grip and skid to the left-arm spinner. The outcome was inevitable, and not a great indication of the ability of this unit and accompanying brains trust to adapt to conditions.
That was Australia’s sixth defeat in their past seven ODIs, and another win for the Proteas today would secure a fifth straight series win over their hosts.
Following his exploits in Cairns, Maharaj lines up today as the newly minted number one ranked bowler in ODIs. However, he will not have his spin partner from Tuesday alongside him after Prenelan Subrayen was reported for a suspect bowling action on ODI debut. There will now be an independent assessment of Subrayen’s action at an ICC-accredited testing facility to determine if he has to remodel his action. He has faced similar scrutiny three times before, in 2012, 2014, and 2016.
I’ll be back shortly with the toss and line-ups. In the meantime, if you have anything to get off your chest feel free to email me at jonathan.howcroft.casual@theguardian.com.
