South Africa bounced back in the triangular series in fine fashion after they thumped Australia by 47 runs in the third ODI of the series at the Province Stadium in Guyana on Tuesday.
It was an all-round effort from the Proteas, and the Australia batsmen could not handle the pressure of the run chase, crumbling to a paltry total of 142 runs.
Earlier, AB de Villiers had won the toss and chose to bat first on yet another tricky wicket at the Province Stadium in Guyana. Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock failed to give a good start as Josh Hazlewood drew first blood.
Apart from Farhaan Behardien, no other batsmen could stay in the middle for long as the Australian bowlers kept on troubling them throughout the first innings.
Behardien scored a gritty half-century and was dismissed for 62 runs, with that knock earning him the man of the match award. With the help of his half-century, South Africa reached a total of 189/9 in their 50 overs.
It was definitely going to be a difficult run chase. The pitch had something extra for the bowlers and South Africa did not let go off that opportunity.
Kagiso Rabada was the pick of the bowlers as he finished with figures of 7-1-13-3. Wayne Parnell, Aaron Phangiso and Imran Tahir picked up two wickets each. Debutant Tabraiz Shamsi also picked up a wicket.
Aaron Finch was the only batsman who played an innings of note for Australia. He was fighting a lone battle during the run chase. The rest of the Australia batting order crumbled like a house of cards. Finch was dismissed after scoring 72 runs. No other Australian batsman could touch the double figure mark.
With this win, South Africa have secured a bonus point as well. Now all the teams in this series have lost one and won one match respectively.
Brief scores: South Africa 189 for 9 (Behardien 62, Maxwell 2-15, Hazlewood 2-20) defeated Australia 142 (Finch 72, Rabada 3-13) by 47 runs .
