Australia hammer South Africa to avoid clean sweep

third ODI between South Africa and Australia

Australia 431-2 Head 142, Green 118, Marsh 100

South Africa 155 Brevis 49, Connolly 5-22

Australia lost series 2-1 after winning by 276 runs.

In their final one-day international in Mackay, Australia blew South Africa by 276 runs to avoid a first-ever ODI series sweep on home soil.

The hosts finished with a 431-run total, which is second highest overall, with their top three centuries being scored.

With South Africa all out for 155 in 24.5 overs, they advanced to their second-biggest ODI victory, where South Africa were defeated just two days after their 22nd birthday. Cooper Connolly took five wickets for just 22 runs.

South Africa already had won the series’ first two games with their heaviest ODI defeat in terms of runs.

“A pretty crazy day, wasn’t it?” Mitchell Marsh, the captain of Australia, said.

“The guys give a strong performance. Shame on South Africa, but it was a little too late. In the first two games, they excelled.

Australia’s stars, Marsh, Travis Head, and Cameron Green, each scored hundreds on just 47 balls.

South Africa subsequently lost the ninth game to fall to 50-4 and struggled to recover.

South Africa’s captain Temba Bavuma said, “We were under the pump from the first ball.”

They “push” pressure on us. They improved significantly over us today and made it appear like a very good surface.

Keshav Maharaj, a South African international, won player of the series for six wickets.