Australia A will be hoping to revenge their senior team’s 2011 World cup loss to the Proteas, when the two A sides meet today in the of the Coca Cola tri series final in Harare. The series is expected to end on a high after an entertaining two weeks of battle that also featured a full strength Zimbabwe XI squad that finished winless.
The two sides meet for the third time in the series, of the previous two meeting the Australians have dominated. They beat the Proteas second stringers in the first match by 60 runs while their last was a closely fought encounter, eventually winning by one wicket. Statistics prove Australia to be the stronger of the two although a mouth watering finale seems to be on the cards.
Leading run scorer so far in the series, South Africa’s captain Jacques Rudolph will be hoping to convert his personal success into team glory. He has scored 219 runs in four outings while he has a healthy average of 54.7. The South Africans have relied on the batsman to do the job for them while their bowling attack leaves a lot to be desired an area Bowling Coach Alan Donald would love to improve so dearly. The leading wicket taker for the South Africans is Venon Philander with eight wickets while conceding 188 runs in four matches. Other notable performances have come from Alexander who is also sitting on eight wickets for 198 runs while Rory Kleinveldt, Rusty Theron have also shown glimpses of disciplined bowling. Donald said he hoped his bowlers would tighten their run leak a little more then South Africa would be poised to emerge victors. “We need to tighten up a little bit and will be talking about a different story altogether come post match presentation tomorrow (today)”. Australia on the other hand are pinning their hopes on the good all round performance they have displayed so far in the three nation tourney. They are currently leading from all angles, their batting has been excellent, and fielding has been flawless and extremely disciplined while the bowling has been as efficient as a well serviced engine motor. The bowling has been characterized by good line, length and timely variations. With the bat they have had good starts but have relied on their middle order to carry the heavy load of setting up the back bone of their innings so far. On some occasions they have left it too far onto the innings, this has been evidenced by their last match against South Africa when they eventually concluded a rather too tight match in the last over. The Tim Paine captained team will be looking forward to having Mitch Finch, David Warner, Cullum Ferguson and Mitch Finch to combine and polish their act and create a defendable total in the event that Australia bat first. Overall pitch behavior has been favoring the ball compares to the bat save for the last time these to sides met were a total 601 runs were scored. It has been confirmed the second strap from the grass bank end will be used. The same strap allowed bowlers to dominate on both occasions South Africa took to battle against Zimbabwe and Aussies on their first encounter. Battle lines have been drawn, this will surely be a intriguing showcase Zimbabwe’s dismal performance has seen them being left out of the finals were they were expected to make it all the way. There wasn’t much on offer from the hosts who were meant to take this tournament seriously as a preparation to the return to international Test cricket. It now remains for Alan Butcher and his charges to join Zimbabwe’s cricket enthusiast and sadly watch from the famous grass bank. |
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