Aussies falls short in Hobart chase to hand South Africa series win

A courageous century from Shaun Marsh and impressive cameos down the order couldn’t save Australia’s blushes as South Africa claimed their first ODI series win Down Under since 2009.

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Shaun Marsh fell short of lifting Australia to series victory in the ODI decider against South Africa last night, but a brilliant hundred locked himself in for the first Test of the summer.

Australia fought hard in another absorbing encounter at Bellerive Oval, but in the end they were unable to match a scintillating 252-run match-winning partnership between South African stars Faf du Plessis and David Miller which is the biggest they’ve ever encountered in one-day cricket.

After losing three early wickets, the Proteas Princes clinched the series with two stunning tons which climaxed at the death with a decisive 57 runs from the 47th, 48th, and 49th overs to set Australia an imposing target of 321.

Shaun Marsh gave the Aussies a glimpse of victory with his century.

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When newly promoted opener Chris Lynn nicked behind off the very first ball of the innings, Australia were always starting from a long way back, although Marcus Stoinis made up ground with a brutal 63.

The World Cup claims of Lynn and the struggling Travis Head now hangs in the balance as Australia continues to search desperately for top order cohesion.

However, the major silver lining was the near faultless 106 off 102 balls posted by Marsh.

For a batsman with such an enigmatic reputation, the much-maligned Marsh has shown over the years an ability to also stand up to be counted when the heat is on.

Marsh’s Test career was under serious threat after he bombed out on the recent tour of the UAE against Pakistan, but the 35-year-old gave a timely reminder of the pure class he is capable of when going and has answered the challenge set by coach Justin Langer to save his red ball place with white ball runs.

Marcus Stoinis impressed with 63 but needed to go much deeper into the innings.

In his past six ODI innings Marsh has three hundreds, but the alarming reality for Australia is they’ve lost all of those matches.

Australia desperately needed Marsh to bat to the death and when he skied one into the air in the 42nd over with 95 still left to chase, South Africa rallied and suffocated the last remaining hopes Alex Carey (42) and Glenn Maxwell (35) to win by 40 runs.

At the 35-over mark Australia was 34 runs ahead of South Africa, but despite not being able to ice the job in the final 10 overs where the Proteas had smashed 130, the real blame had to rest with the lazy shots played early on by Lynn and Head who are fast running out of chances.

Du Plessis’ incredible personal record of dominance over Australia continued as the South African antagonist blitzed the record books in Hobart.

With it all on the line, du Plessis made the most of a life on 29 to once again shine against his ‘bunnies’.

Dale Steyn took three wickets in another great performance.

The du Plessis (125 off 114) and Miller (139 off 108) partnership, which eclipsed the 237-run partnership Sri Lankan pair Marvan Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya piled on at the SCG back in 2003, was a magic performance that dragged South Africa out of the mire at 3-55 in the 16th over.

Du Plessis has made seven hundreds against Australia from an overall tally of 19 international tons across all formats.

Between he and Miller they slammed 28 boundaries and put six more over the fence.

And to make matters worse, Australia were left to rue a pivotal moment in the match where wicketkeeper Alex Carey put du Plessis down early in his innings standing up to the stumps to Glenn Maxwell.

The luckless Maxwell was left devastated again when a DRS bungle by umpire Aleem Dar gave Miller the chance to review an lbw shout on 41 and somehow wiggle off the hook.

Glenn Maxwell got some nice runs but it wasn’t enough.

At the time South Africa were 3-133 and Miller took 19 seconds before asking for a review – which is four seconds over the official limit allowed.

But the review was allowed and as a second dagger blow, DRS mysteriously showed a ball that looked plumb sailing over the stumps.

For du Plessis, who also made a match-saving hundred on Test debut against Australia, it was his first visit back to Hobart since he skippered the South African side which inflicted one of the most horrific losses in Australian Test history two years ago.

That fateful occasion was the beginning of the end for Australian cricket. And Australia are now hoping last night’s effort will represent a turning of the tide.

Originally published as Aussies falls short in Hobart chase to hand South Africa series win