South Africa Cricket News January 2009
Comprehensive Cricket News, Latest Information and Live ball-by-ball Commentary.
Australia vs South Africa Cricket Series 2008-09
South Africa will play 5 ODIs, 3 Tests and two T20s during the Australian tour starting December 13, 2008.
Get the latest news of South Africa's 2008-09 Australia Tour →
Australia vs South Africa Cricket Series 2008-09
Schedule- Sat 13 - Sun 14, Dec 2008: Western Australia v South Africans at Perth
- Wed 17 - Sun 21, Dec 2008: 1st Test - Australia v South Africa at Perth
- Fri 26 - Tue 30, Dec 2008: 2nd Test - Australia v South Africa at Melbourne
- Sat 3 - Wed 7, Jan 2009: 3rd Test - Australia v South Africa at Sydney
- Sun 11, Jan 2009 (D/N): 1st Twenty20 - Australia v South Africa Melbourne
- Tue 13, Jan 2009 (D/N): 2nd Twenty20 - Australia v South Africa at Brisbane
- Fri 16, Jan 2009 (D/N): 1st ODI - Australia v South Africa at Melbourne
- Sun 18, Jan 2009: 2nd ODI - Australia v South Africa at Hobart
- Fri 23, Jan 2009 (D/N): 3rd ODI - Australia v South Africa at Sydney
- Mon 26, Jan 2009 (D/N): 4th ODI - Australia v South Africa at Adelaide Oval
- Fri 30, Jan 2009 (D/N): 5th ODI - Australia v South Africa at Perth
South Africa in Australia Cricket Series 2008-09
AUS v SA, 5th ODI, Perth: South Africa beat Australia by 39 runs (SA 4:1)
Jan 30, 2009
South Africa's near-perfect tour began with a Test win in Perth and fittingly it finished with a 4-1 one-day triumph at the same venue as Australia conceded the No 1 ranking to Johan Botha's men.
JP Duminy, Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers, all of whom contributed to the Test successes, finished the trip strongly and the debutant Lonwabo Tsotsobe picked up four wickets to give the tourists one more happy story to recount on the flight home. South Africa had waited all series for the chance to bat first and when they did, they set the largest target of the five games thanks to Amla, De Villiers and Duminy.
Australia knew that chasing 289 was going to be tough and when they stumbled to 53 for four, Ricky Ponting might have been ready to update his assessment that Monday's loss in Adelaide was their worst performance of the summer. But in a reverse of Australia's trend throughout the series, the middle and lower orders outshone their colleagues at the top. Michael Hussey's 78 gave them the subtlest of sniffs and David Hussey and Brad Haddin made handy contributions but, like an Australian Tour de France cyclist, the uphill effort was simply too arduous.
Their requirement of 164 from 20 overs became 100 from 10 and, regardless of how clean Haddin could strike the ball, it was all too much.
Amla had promised so much throughout the tour but until his unbeaten 80 in Adelaide had struggled to build on his promising starts. His 97 was the closest thing to a century in this series and he did it in a typically calm manner, striking 52 singles and not bothering with a boundary for 26 overs as he and De Villiers picked off easy ones and twos through the middle overs.
There had been a couple of early cheers for Amla, who had guided Ben Hilfenhaus over third man for six, but once they fell to 58 for two he adopted the more conservative approach. His 118-run partnership with De Villiers, who was equally composed in his 60, set the platform for Duminy to go nuts in the final overs.
AUS v SA, 5th ODI, Perth: South Africa 288-6 (50.0 overs) beat Australia 249 (49.0 overs) by 39 runs
AUS v SA, 4th ODI, Adelaide: South Africa beat Australia by 8 wickets, clinch series (SA 3:1)
Jan 26, 2009
The South Africans crushed the Aussies by eight wickets in what turned out to be a lopsided floodlit contest to take an invincible 3-1 lead in the five-match series.
Opting to bat first, Australia put up yet another sordid batting display and folded up for 222 in 48 overs with only Ricky Ponting (63), James Hopes (42) and Cameron White (30) salvaging some individual reputation with the bat.
South Africa's pace colleagues Makhaya Ntini (3/52) and Dale Steyn (3/49) did an excellent job with the new ball wrecking Australia's top and middle order.
Chasing 223, South Africa needed 38.1 overs to overwhelm the target with Hashim Amla (80 not out), AB de Villiers (82 not out) and Herschelle Gibbs (38) starring in the chase.
Australia remained the number one team in both forms of the game followed closely by South Africa and India, both of whom have beaten the Kangaroos in Test series in recent months.
AUS v SA, 4th ODI, Adelaide: South Africa 223-2 (38.1 overs) beat Australia 222 (48.0 overs) by 8 wickets
AUS v SA, 3rd ODI, Sydney: South Africa beat Australia by 3 wickets (SA 2:1)
Jan 23, 2009
South Africa beat the home side by three wickets in the third ODI at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday.
South Africa was earlier appeared to lose their way after launching a blistering run chase in reply to Australia�s 269. Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis added 96 for the second wicket in quick time after the Proteas lost Hashim Amla early. Gibbs slammed 10 fours and a six in his 54-ball assault in which he scored 64, before Mitchell Johnson ended his stay.
South Africa, cruising at the stage began to stumble and lost three wickets in the process.
AB de Villiers, JP Duminy and Kallis fell in quick succession as the visitors slipped to 163-5 with Neil McKenzie and Mark Boucher left with the task to stem the rot.
But the visitors reached to home in 46.3 overs with Morkel blitz going ahead of the home side 2-1 in five matches ODI series.
Earlier, the South African bowlers pegged back Australia with quick wickets to reduce the hosts to 269 all out off 49.1 overs.
AUS v SA, 3rd ODI, Sydney: South Africa 270-7 (46.3 overs) beat Australia 269 (49.2 overs) by 3 wickets
AUS v SA, 2nd ODI, Hobart: Australia beat South Africa by 5 runs, level series (AUS 1:1)
Jan 18, 2009
A new look Australian bowling attack stifled South Africa's in-form batsmen as the hosts eked out a thrilling five-run win in the second ODI to level the five-match cricket series 1-1.
Put into bat, Australia at one stage looked certain to reach the 300-mark before South African bowlers bounced back to restrict them to a moderate 249 for nine with Shaun Marsh (78) and Ricky Ponting (64) shinning with the bat.
In reply, South Africa got handy contributions from Jacques Kallis (72), AB de Villiers (44), Mark Boucher (37 not out) and JP Duminy (35) but still fell six runs short of the victory target and finished 244 for six in the humdinger.
Needing 17 from the final over off Ben Hilfenhaus, Mark Boucher hit the bowler for a six but in the subsequent deliveries, boundaries were not easy to come by. Required a six off the last ball, Boucher could only manage a single as Australia levelled the series.
AUS v SA, 2nd ODI, Hobart: Australia 249-9 (50.0 overs) beat South Africa 244-6 (50.0 overs) by 5 runs
AUS v SA, 1st ODI, Melbourne: South Africa beat Australia by 3 wickets (SA 1:0)
Jan 16, 2009
South Africa twice came back from forlorn positions to defeat a new-look Australia by three wickets in a thrilling opening to the one-day international series at the MCG.
Led by Albie Morkel, who made a match-winning 40 off only 18 balls, the Proteas capitalised on a well-chosen batting powerplay to plunder 18 runs off the 48th over, bowled by Ben Hilfenhaus, to steal a remarkable victory with three balls to spare. Morkel delivered the final twist in a thrilling match which Australia had for the large part appeared destined to win.
After Australia reached an imposing 271 for eight, built largely on half-centuries from Shaun Marsh and David Hussey, the Proteas lost early wickets and were in big trouble when Jacques Kallis departed with the score on 90 for three in the 19th over.
But a 123-run stand between the irrepressible Jean-Paul Duminy and Neil McKenzie returned the momentum to the Proteas before Duminy's dismissal for 71 triggered another swing.
The Proteas lost four wickets for eight runs in less than three overs to slump to 221 for seven before the older Morkel brother and Johan Botha (12 not out) put the Australians to the sword.
AUS v SA, 1st ODI, Melbourne: South Africa 272-7 (49.3 overs) beat Australia 271-8 (50.0 overs) by 3 wickets
AUS v SA, 2nd Twenty20, Brisbane: Hussey, White star in Australia's T20 win (AUS 2:0)
Jan 13, 2009
Michael Hussey and Cameron White propelled Australia to a six-wicket victory over South Africa in the second Twenty20 international at Brisbane Tuesday.
South Africa, who chose to bat, scored 157 with Jean Paul Duminy hitting 69 off 41 balls.
Australia were four for 92 before Hussey (53 not out off 33) and White (40 not out off 18) pulled the team out of danger with an unbeaten 69-run stand as the hosts recorded their second consecutive T20 win.
With 36 required from 24 balls, White blasted four consecutive boundaries off Wayne Parnell to draw Australia near and then hit Morne Morkel for a four and six to complete the run chase with seven balls to spare.
AUS v SA, 2nd Twenty20, Brisbane: Australia 161-4 (18.5 overs) beat South Africa 157-5 (20.0 overs) by 6 wickets
AUS v SA, 1st Twenty20, Melbourne: Warner shines on debut takes Australia to victory (AUS 1:0)
Jan 11, 2009
Australia defeated South Africa by 52 runs in the first Twenty20 match at Melbourn on Sunday.
Batting first, Australia made 182 runs for the loss of nine wickets in the allotted 20 overs.
David Warner, making his international debut, played an aggressive innings of 89 runs off only 43 balls with seven fours and six sixes while Dale Steyn claimed three wickets.
In reply, South Africa were dismissed for 130 runs in 18 overs. Jean-Paul Duminy top-scored with 78 off just 48 balls, hitting nine fours and a towering six. David Hussey captured three wickets.
The second Twenty20 International will be played on Tuesday.
AUS v SA, 1st Twenty20, Melbourne: Australia 182-9 (20.0 overs) beat South Africa 130 (18.0 overs) by 52 runs
Australian cricket selectors drop Matthew Hayden
Jan 08, 2009
Matthew Hayden's future with Australian cricket was in doubt Thursday after the left-handed batsman was left out from the squad for the two Twenty20 matches and the one-day series against South Africa.
National Selection Panel chairman Andrew Hilditch said that Hayden's omission had nothing to do with the batsman's woeful form during the Test series against South Africa.
Australia Twenty20 squad: Ricky Ponting (Captain), Michael Hussey (vice-captain), David Hussey, Ben Hilfenhaus, James Hopes, Nathan Bracken, Brad Haddin (wicket keeper), Shaun Marsh, Shaun Tait, David Warner, Ryan Harris, Cameron White, Nathan Hauritz.
Australia ODI squad: Ricky Ponting (Captain), Michael Clarke (vice-captain), Brad Haddin (wicket keeper), James Hopes, Nathan Bracken, Shaun Marsh, Michael Hussey, David Hussey, Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus, Cameron White, Shaun Tait, Peter Siddle.
AUS v SA, 3rd Test, Sydney: Australia claim consolation win (AUS 1:2)
Jan 07, 2009
Australia salvaged a consolation win against South Africa after dismissing the tourists for 272 with only 10 balls remaining on the fifth day to clinch a 103-run victory in the third Test at the SCG.
South Africa entered the final day needing a further 314 runs to pull off an improbable win - and a series clean sweep - having progressed to 62 for one at stumps on day four. But any hope of an unlikely victory disappeared when the tourists lost Neil McKenzie (27), Jacques Kallis (four) and Hashim Amla (59) in the opening session. The Australians secured their victory when Graeme Smith, who bravely returned to bat at number 11 with a broken finger, was bowled by Mitchell Johnson with 10 balls remaining.
The hosts had removed JP Duminy (16), Mark Boucher (four) and AB de Villiers (56) in the middle session to take control of proceedings to leave the Proteas on 193 for seven at tea.
Paul Harris (six) went lbw to Peter Siddle in the sixth over after the resumption to leave the South Africans 202 for eight but Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntini held out for over 17 overs, adding another 50 runs before Steyn was removed lbw by Andrew McDonald for 28. Proteas skipper Smith had not played since retiring hurt with a broken finger and troublesome left elbow in the South African first innings but the skipper returned to courageously bat out the remaining overs with Ntini until he was bowled by Johnson for three.
Siddle was the pick of the Australian bowlers, taking three wickets for 54, while McDonald returned figures of two for 32.
South Africa had already clinched the three-match series after winning the first two Tests in Perth and Melbourne but Australia's victory meant that they retained their position at the top of the ICC's official Test rankings.