Key events
South Africa win the toss and will bat first
They hardly needed to go through that formality considering Mitch Marsh has won the toss 21 times as captain across T20Is and ODIs and bowled on every occasion.
Preamble
Jonathan Howcroft
Good afternoon everybody and welcome to live OBO coverage of the pinnacle of late-winter sport, the nail-biting race for the AFL & NRL finals the second of a three-match bilateral ODI series between Australia and South Africa. Play gets under way in balmy Mackay at 2:30pm.
This is as off-Broadway as men’s international crickets gets on Australian soil. Coverage is available only on pay TV, host city Mackay has a population of just over 100,000, and the magnificently named Great Barrier Reef Arena can accommodate around ten percent of the local community, if they all decided to clock off early on a Friday and enjoy a couple of sundowners.
This is only the second ever ODI at the venue. The first lasted just two deliveries before it was washed out, back when India met Sri Lanka in the 1992 World Cup.
The home side might not mind that attention is elsewhere, considering the thrashing they received a few nights ago in Cairns. For the first time ever, Australia have been bowled out for under 200 in their last three home ODIs.
In the Top End, the top order repeatedly played off the back foot to Keshav Maharaj on a deck that offered both grip and skid to the left-arm spinner. The outcome was inevitable, and not a great indication of the ability of this unit and accompanying brains trust to adapt to conditions.
That was Australia’s sixth defeat in their past seven ODIs, and another win for the Proteas today would secure a fifth straight series win over their hosts.
Following his exploits in Cairns, Maharaj lines up today as the newly minted number one ranked bowler in ODIs. However, he will not have his spin partner from Tuesday alongside him after Prenelan Subrayen was reported for a suspect bowling action on ODI debut. There will now be an independent assessment of Subrayen’s action at an ICC-accredited testing facility to determine if he has to remodel his action. He has faced similar scrutiny three times before, in 2012, 2014, and 2016.
I’ll be back shortly with the toss and line-ups. In the meantime, if you have anything to get off your chest feel free to email me at jonathan.howcroft.casual@theguardian.com.
