Key events
27th over: Australia 165-3 (Peake 31, Carey 18) Markram is burning through another set, singles, and finally Carey breaks, playing a reverse sweep. Almost four, but de Zorzi tumbles and taps back down at deep third, braids flying everywhere as he loses his hat and rolls over. Every other ball in the over goes for one. That’s a bit more busy from the batters.
26th over: Australia 158-3 (Peake 28, Carey 14) Tristan Stubbs bowling now. Curious. Pace off is the current SA way. Pace off the scoring rate too. Only three.
25th over: Australia 155-3 (Peake 26, Carey 13) Carey almost goes the same way Marsh did. Or the mirror image: off-spinner to the left-hander, as opposed to left orthodox to the right-hander. Gets low to sweep, plays over the top of it, and is hit in front, but on Carey’s review there’s a tiny spike from the bottom edge. Markram has a wicket chalked off, after having about five dropped the other day.
That’s the halfway mark.
Updated at 10.05 EDT
24th over: Australia 153-3 (Peake 25, Carey 12) Shotzee, from Coetzee! Peake whacks him. Coetzee is generating serious wheels in this over, dips short and Peake ices the cut shot, a little up and under in that as well. In revenge, Coetzee almost kills his own wicketkeeper. Short and just creeping down the leg side, then it swings back towards the keeper in the air, and de Kock has to jam a glove in front of his face to avoid getting a new piece of Kookaburra dental jewellery. Another short ball, with Peake getting out of the way, and a fourth, that he cuts again for four! Fun contest.
23rd over: Australia 143-3 (Peake 17, Carey 11) More Markram, and Peake can’t do much with him. Gets a couple of runs from a sweep, but otherwise he’s going nowhere. Cuts a ball into the ground that nearly goes back onto his stumps.
22nd over: Australia 141-3 (Peake 15, Carey 11) Too wide from Coetzee, and Carey doesn’t do the Head throw of the hands, but he places the bat face there, open bladed, and guides the ball to the fence at point. Then plays an awkward pull shot to get off strike. After Marsh opening, Australia have left-handers all the way down to No7.
Coetzee gets lift to Peake, who’s driving on the up and missing, nearly a nick. That comes right after a short ball.
21st over: Australia 134-3 (Peake 14, Carey 6) A close-run thing, literally, as Carey tries to take a single and then has to turn back, diving for his ground after a good pick-up and throw from Stubbs. Markram’s part-time spin is now the weapon of choice, and his over costs only three.
20th over: Australia 131-3 (Peake 13, Carey 4) Coetzee keeps the valve fastened, just the one run for Carey to cover, his favourite spot.
19th over: Australia 130-3 (Peake 13, Carey 3) Extras doing the heavy lifting for the moment, as Mokoena bowls a couple of wides, then a ball that deserves to be, clipping some pad that takes it down to the rope for four byes.
18th over: Australia 121-3 (Peake 12, Carey 2) Australia’s keeper in next. Has a little look. Nudges a couple of singles.
ShareWICKET! Connolly b Coetzee 23, Australia 118-3
Keep it simple. Coetzee returns after being pumped early on, he comes around the wicket to the lefties, and he arrows a yorker in at the base of middle and off. Scrambled seam, perfect length, Connolly can’t jam down.
17th over: Australia 118-2 (Connolly 23, Peake 11) Mokoena isn’t doing anything that stands out, just running in and hitting the deck, hard length mostly, and nothing much happens until the end of the over, when Peake tries to slam a full ball from outside leg stump through midwicket, but misses. It crashes into his boot.
16th over: Australia 113-2 (Connolly 21, Peake 9) Australia scored 79 in nine overs off the top, then 28 in six overs since Head’s wicket. Fortuin continues in that vein, singles coming for the two left-handers from the left-armer.
15th over: Australia 107-2 (Connolly 17, Peake 7) First boundary conceded by Mokoena, as Connolly gets on top of a pull shot and picks his spot around the corner.
14th over: Australia 102-2 (Connolly 12, Peake 7) So it’s time for Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead. Peake and Connolly have been left at home while the folks are out of town. Peake chunks a couple of runs over the leg side, then nicks Fortuin past slip for four.
ShareWICKET! Marsh lbw Fortuin 56, Australia 94-2
The formula holds true. Marsh, big early shots, race to 50, Australia flying, South Africa introduce spin, sand in the gears, Marsh gets out without converting. Flat ball skidding past a sweep shot. DRS review doesn’t change the umpire’s decision.
13th over: Australia 94-1 (Marsh 56, Connolly 11) The South Africans have held back Mokoena until the relatively gentle environs of the 13th over, and Marsh is kind to him as well, just taking a couple of singles to cover.
12th over: Australia 91-1 (Marsh 54, Connolly 10) What is with these Australians and spin? Fortuin works away at Connolly, who apparently has no fracking idea how to do literally anything with a spin bowler. Almost chips back a catch, finds the field repeatedly, and takes five balls to get off strike with a tuck to square. Marsh’s early charge has slowed right down, partly because he’s barely had strike. He hits Fortuin hard off the back foot to deep cover, but there’s now a fielder back.
11th over: Australia 89-1 (Marsh 53, Connolly 9) A nice cover drive from Connolly against Bosch does the job. That’s his best shot.
The Head-Marsh partnership ends today at 1379 runs, one behind Watson and Haddin. Could we compound them as the Headmarshter?
10th over: Australia 82-1 (Marsh 52, Connolly 3) Fortuin into the attack, and a catch goes down! Spin is immediately the danger again for Australia, Connolly drives in the air to cover, and how has Matthew Breetzke dropped that? He’s taken some stunners this series, then shells the one that loops to him at head height to hit the meat of both palms.
9th over: Australia 79-1 (Marsh 51, Connolly 1) Plenty of time for Cooper Connolly today to build an innings, and no run chase to worry about.
Updated at 08.52 EDT
WICKET! Head b Bosch 24, Australia 78-1
He’s chopped on again! Just keeps on doing that lately, does Head. Bosch buys him out, really. A friendly bit of width from Bosch earlier in the over, not once but twice, and both disappear over cover. No fielder in the deep there during the fielding restrictions. But then Bosch gets tighter to the stumps, still with some angle across, and Head tries to flash it away with an angled blade. Bottom edge, stumps.
ShareHalf century! Mitchell Marsh 51 from 33 balls
8th over: Australia 70-0 (Marsh 51, Head 16) Marsh is just so effortless in the way he hits these. Leans back a little and plants a huge pull shot over the leg side, as so often coming from a ball that isn’t too short. Then aims through midwicket and gets an edge down through fine leg for four, again standing tall and swinging hard.
Marsh and Head, the combo has quickly become something very impressive. They’re currently 29th on the list of Australian one-day partnerships, which doesn’t sound too exciting, but at around 1350 runs and climbing, they’re within a couple of hundred runs of overtaking a bunch of other entries – and they’ve had fewer innings than any pairing ahead of them, having only batted together 26 times.
Marsh adds a brace to end the over, and raises another 50. He’s had one in every match this series.
7th over: Australia 57-0 (Marsh 39, Head 16) As in the previous two games, Marsh is striking clean as a whistle, while Head is more a rusty gate. But his runs are coming, as they have done recently. Bosch the bowler, and Head almost chops onto his stumps, before slashing a ball that’s almost caught at deep third, but goes just square of the fielder for four.
Corbin Bosch with a delivery. Photograph: Phill Magakoe/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 08.50 EDT
6th over: Australia 52-0 (Marsh 38, Head 12) Marsh just keeps hitting straight! These two shots tend towards the on side rather than the off, but they find the fence regardless, Marsh just swinging through the line of Lizaad Williams’ bowling
5th over: Australia 42-0 (Marsh 30, Head 11) Lovely straight drive from Head, very simple back past Coetzee along the floor. Then Marsh tucks in! Drives him square for four, huge powerful swing of the hands there, then lifts him off a length – that ball isn’t too full, it’s swinging away slightly as well, and Marsh doesn’t care. He hits it anyway, over long off for a one-bouncer. He’s in touch…
4th over: Australia 29-0 (Marsh 22, Head 7) The topsy-turvy game continues, with Williams now bowling an over that goes for just one.
3rd over: Australia 28-0 (Marsh 22, Head 6) Coetzee’s second over is a contrast to his first. The first boundary isn’t middled, just tucked away off the hip. The second boundary isn’t ever, toed over mid on. But the third big hit is crunched, pull shot over midwicket for six.
2nd over: Australia 10-0 (Marsh 5, Head 5) And the quiet times lasted one over! First Head, then Marsh, play pull shots from Williams for four.
1st over: Australia 0-0 (Marsh 0, Head 0) A maiden over to begin the match. That’s quite something from Coetzee, who has got the ball swerving around the place like a remote-controlled plane. There has been early swing in this series, before the belting of the ball begins. Marsh is happy to wait, defending stoutly.
Elsewhere, in Guwahati, West Indies are making sure to give Virat Kohli plenty of runs to score in the chase. They’ve got 330 from 40 overs!
So. Another game for Peake, one of the young brigade the Aussies are investing in. That pushes Jack Edwards out, after taking five wickets, and Cam Green down to No7. What is going on with the Aussie selectors and Green? The guy who made 17 off 34 to tank the chase last time around is now the finisher? He’ll want to have completely renovated his approach during three days in the nets.
SA get de Zorzi and Rickelton in for Miller and Bavuma, Bosch and Coetzee in for the Jansens, and inexperienced seamer Mokoena in for the spinner Maharaj. That will please the Australians.
ShareTeams
Australia
Mitch Marsh *
Travis Head
Cooper Connolly
Ollie Peake
Alex Carey +
Matt Renshaw
Cam Green
Pat Cummins
Xavier Bartlett
Mitchell Starc
Adam Zampa
South Africa
Aiden Markram *
Quinton de Kock +
Tony de Zorzi
Matthew Breetzke
Ryan Rickelton
Tristan Stubbs
Corbin Bosch
Gerald Coetzee
Bjorn Fortuin
Nqobani Mokoena
Lizaad Williams
ShareSouth Africa win the toss and bowl
Hooray, coin time. Temba Bavuma is rested, with Aiden Markram taking his place as captain.
This would be much more interesting if they at least had the toss, so we would have the teams. Keen to see who’s playing today. Is Pat Cummins going to have a warm-up before the Test series? It would be more like a cooldown out there. He kind of has to play really, Ellis can’t play after that side strain that took him out of the last match early.
It’s not raining, they just had a lot of rain earlier, so even though the covers are off, they have a lot of soaking-up work to do. Potch is at reasonably high altitude, so apparently it’s cold today as well as wet. Not much fun for cricketers.
ShareToss delayed
Okay, we spoke too soon. There is a wet outfield at the ground in Potchefstroom, so the toss has been delayed.
You know what they say: better to have delayed and tossed than never to have tossed at all.
SharePreamble
Geoff Lemon
Hello! Game 3 and final today, with South Africa already taking the series in the first two. It has been a battle of the middle overs, with the home spinners thoroughly doing the job over the visiting batting. Australia, defending champions, need a solution to getting tied down, with just a year to go until the next World Cup, also in South Africa. So, still a lot to play for today.