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SA vs BAN | 2nd ODI | Exciting final on cards as Proteas draw level with strong performance

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Lightning does not strike twice at the same place. Bangladesh, after their historic first win against South Africa in the first match of the ODI series, submitted meekly at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg on Sunday, 20 March.

South Africa barely broke any sweat on a fiesty track in the early hours of Sunday morning, putting up an exceptional display of pace bowling. Out of the nine wickets that fell in the Bangladesh innings, seven came off the pacers who terrorised the visitors’ top order with pace and bounce.

Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi extracted seam and bounce in their initial spell, course-correcting from their poor outing in the last game. Once Ngidi and Rabada were done with their early assault, Wayne Parnell picked up the prized wicket of Mushfiqur Rahim that had Bangladesh reeling at 34/4 in the 13th over. Bangladesh lost two more wickets failing to negotiate Rabada in his second spell and making bad choices of shots against Tabraiz Shamsi. It took a big revival act by youngsters Afif Hossain (72 off 107) and Mehidy Hasan Miraz (38 off 49) to make sure Bangladesh at least had something on board.

180/6 in the 46th over, Kagiso Rabada’s intelligence took over once again, and the star pacer got two back to back wickets of set Hossain and Miraz with slower deliveries. Things could have been wrapped up earlier if catches would have stuck for SA, but they did fine, since Bangladesh were not able to cut loose, even against part-timer Temba Bavuma, who was forced to bowl six overs in the absence of an injured Wayne Parnell.

Chasing 195, it was never going to be a problem for the hosts, but Bangladesh did not quite expect the assault that was coming at them.

Quinton de Kock went on  a crazy assault, completing his half century in just 26 balls, alongside a patient Janneman Malan who was still finding his feet in this series. De Kock’s innings, studded with 9 fours and 2 sixes took the game away from Bangladesh in the first 15 overs as the batters put on 86 runs in their first wicket partnership. Bangladesh thought that they found a way into the game after two quick wickets of Malan (26 off 40) and de Kock (62 off 41), but an 82 run partnership from captain Temba Bavuma (37 off 52) and Kyle Verreynne made sure that SA did not slump.

Both batsmen were steady in their approach, but found their range against short balls aimed at them. While Bavuma was caught in the deep trying to slog sweep, young Verreynne stayed on to finish the game at 58* off 77 balls, chasing the target down in 37.2 overs, with seven wickets remaining.

This was a must win game for South Africa given the situation of the series, and they came up trumps firing in all departments. However, it is not all great going forward in the series, as they will have question marks over the fitness of three players.

Wayne Parnell has picked up a hamstring injury, which should put him out the contention for the next game and the verdict is still out on Lungi Ngidi, who bowled through pain for the most part of the innings, after damaging his knee and his ankle in the early overs of the game.

Temba Bavuma also had his fingers tightly plastered up, but looked good for his 37 off 52, managing to go aerial and put power behind his shots.

SA would hope that they continue their good work going into the final game of the series, while Bangladesh would hope that this was just a blip in their usual performance. The visiting team would be hoping for a weakened SA side which they can dominate with their attacking batters in the line up. The final game would be played in their favoured ground in SuperSport Park in Centurion, which should not have the extra bounce or pace that Wanderers offered.




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SA vs BAN | 2nd ODI | Proteas pick three injuries in first innings

South Africa picked up three injuries in the first innings of the second ODI against Bangladesh, two of which could be potentially long term and see players miss out in their next matches. It started early in the day, with Lungi Ngidi hobbling after hitting his knee awkwardly on the ground but proceeded to continue with the game anyway. The commentators speculated that he might have an ankle injury as well, but that is not confirmed at the moment. South Africa were in deep trouble after Wayne Parnell walked off after bowling 2.5 overs, incurring a left hamstring injury. As per the latest updates from Cricket South Africa, he is currently being assessed and there are chances that he would not be taking any further part in the current game. In the absence of Parnell, captain Temba Bavuma filled up the bowling duties, and did considerably well bowling for the first time in an One Day International. He bowled 6.1 overs for just 22 runs but got injured while trying to grab a sharp chance off his own bowling. He was seen walking off the ground to get a treatment and got back after heavily bandaging his middle finger. Bavuma was further seen wincing in pain after he stopped a powerful short in the short mid wicket position. After getting hit, Bavuma chose to not continue bowling and Rassie van der Dussen picked up duties off him and to his credit got a wicket bowling the penultimate over of the game. Bangladesh could not carry their form into the second match of the series and were reduced to 34/5 inside the first 15 overs. They rebuild from their owing to a steady partnership by Afif Hossain and Mehidy Hasan Miraz. The duo were looking strong to put a respectable total on the board but lost their wickets in the 46th over of the game against two very well hidden slower deliveries from Kagiso Rabada. Rabada was the pick among the bowlers, clasping 5 wickets in the game, while Lungi Ngidi, Wayne Parnell, van der Dussen and Tabraiz Shamsi bagged one each. This was a good bowling outing for South Africa who used pace and bounce to good effect and kept their opposition to just 194 runs in their registered 50 overs.