South Africa defeated Australia by 47 runs in the third match of the Tri-Nation One-Day International series at the Guyana National Stadium on Tuesday. Earlier, Australia's pace and suffocating aggression limited South Africa to 189 for nine. Only Farhaan Behardien offered any substantial resistance, his workmanlike innings of 62 before he fell in the final over saving his side from complete capitulation after the top-order failed to deliver for the second consecutive match.
Despite another slow, low surface that challenged both bowlers and batsmen, it was the Australian fast bowling pair of Nathan Coulter-Nile and Josh Hazlewood who proved most effective with two wickets each in restricting the Proteas after their captain, A.B. de Villiers, surprisingly chose to bat first on winning the toss. Coulter-Nile, who replaced Mitchell Starc from the opening victory over West Indies two days earlier, made the most of the opportunity with a spell of two for 38 off ten overs.
He claimed the vital wickets of de Villiers, bowled for 22, and then uprooted the off-stump of J.P. Duminy in his next over to reduce the South Africans to 104 for five midway through the innings, effectively killing off any realistic chance they had of posting a formidable total. Hazlewood was even more economical in conceding 20 runs off ten metronomic overs. He earned an LBW verdict against Quinton de Kock to break the opening partnership with Hashim Amla and returned to get rid of Wayne Parnell, the all-rounder who was playing his first ODI for almost 16 months.
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Scoreboard South Africa Innings
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H. Amla run out 35
Q. de Kock lbw Hazlewood 18
R. Rossouw lbw Lyon 7
A.B. de Villiers b Coulter-Nile 22
J.P. Duminy b Coulter-Nile 13
F. Behardien b Maxwell 62
W. Parnell b Hazlewood 2
A. Phangiso c Hazlewood b Zampa 9
K. Rabada not out 15
I. Tahir c Coulter-Nile b Maxwell 0
T. Shamsi not out 0
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Extras: (lb-1, w-5) 6
Total: (50 overs, 9 wickets) 189
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Fall of wickets: 1-29 (de Kock), 2-41 (Rossouw), 3-81 (Amla), 4-97 (de Villiers), 5-104 (Duminy), 6-112 (Parnell), 7-149 (Phangiso), 8-188 (Behardien), 9-188 (Tahir).
Bowling: J. Hazlewood 10-3-20-2 (1w), N. Coulter-Nile 10-2-38-2 (2w), N. Lyon 10-0-40-1, A. Zampa 10-0-46-1 (2w), M. Marsh 4-0-18-0, A. Finch 3-0-11-0, G. Maxwell 3-0-15-2.
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Australia Innings
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D. Warner lbw Parnell 1
A. Finch c de Villiers b Phangiso 72
U. Khawaja b Rabada 2
S. Smith lbw Parnell 8
G. Maxwell lbw Shamsi 3
M. Marsh c wkpr de Kock b Tahir 8
M. Wade c wkpr de Kock b Rabada 2
N. Coulter-Nile b Rabada 0
A. Zampa lbw Tahir 0
N. Lyon lbw Phangiso 30
J. Hazlewood not out 11
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Extras: (lb-5) 5
Total: (34.2 overs, all out) 142
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