JOHANNESBURG: Centuries by Temba Bavuma and David Miller set up a series-clinching 32-run win for South Africa in the second One-day international against Australia at the Wanderers on Sunday.
It was South Africa’s sixth successive one-day series win against Australia since 2016/17.
Captain Bavuma hit 103 and Miller slammed 142 to propel South Africa to 365 for nine after they were sent in to bat for the second time in the series.
“It was an overall good team performance,” Bavuma said at the post-match presentation. “It was tricky batting upfront but we were able to handle that challenge. It was an unbelievable performance by David, then the bowlers did well. They held their nerve, we knew they would put us under pressure.” Australian captain Mitchell Marsh acknowledged his team’s failure to build on a good start by Travis Head and himself.
Marsh and Head both hit 84 but as in the first match Australia struggled in the middle overs against South Africa’s spinners. They were bowled out for 333 despite some powerful late hitting by Xavier Bartlett, who made 50 off 28 balls.
“It’s really disappointing,” said Marsh. “We haven’t been able to execute in those middle phases, which is a great learning curve for some of our younger guys. But credit to South Africa, who bowled well in those phases.”
Bavuma and Miller shared a fourth wicket stand of 156 off 135 balls with Bavuma batting solidly while the left-handed Miller made a career-best score off just 93 balls, hitting 12 fours and nine sixes.
It was the eighth ODI century by the 37-year-old Miller and his fourth against Australia.
With high totals a regular occurrence at the Wanderers, Australia seemed well on the way to chasing down the target as Marsh and Head put on 130 for the first wicket inside 17 overs.
The match changed when Marsh was bowled by Fortuin and the innings gradually lost momentum against a three-pronged spin attack, with left-armers Keshav Maharaj and Bjorn Fortuin and off-spinner Aiden Markram all bowling their full quota of 10 overs.
SCOREBOARD
SOUTH AFRICA:
A. Markram c Connolly b Hazlewood 0
Q. de Kock c Carey b Hazlewood 15
T. Bavuma c Bartlett b Edwards 103
M. Breetzke c Carey b Edwards 34
D. Miller c Green b Edwards 142
T. Stubbs c Carey b Edwards 6
M. Jansen c Carey b Edwards 19
D, Jansen not out 27
B. Fortuin c Carey b Hazlewood 5
K. Maharaj lbw Bartlett 4
L. Williams not out 1
EXTRAS (LB-3, W-6) 9
TOTAL (for nine wickets, 50 overs) 365
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0 (Markram), 2-36 (de Kock), 3-93 (Breetzke), 4-249 (Bavuma), 5-261 (Stubbs), 6-307 (Jansen), 7-331 (Miller), 8-353 (Fortuin), 9-360 (Maharaj)
BOWLING: Hazlewood 10-0-70-3 (1w); Bartlett 10-1-70-1 (3w); Ellis 4-0-22-0 (1w); Zampa 9-0-77-0; Connolly 4-0-27-0; Edwards 10-0-67-5 (1w); Renshaw 3-0-29-0
AUSTRALIA:
M. Marsh b Fortuin 84
T. Head lbw Markram 84
C. Connolly c Markram b Williams 10
A. Carey lbw Maharaj 17
M. Renshaw lbw Maharaj 32
C. Green c Jansen b Fortuin 17
J. Edwards c Breetzke b Jansen 25
X. Bartlett lbw Williams 50
A. Zampa c Maharaj b Jansen 0
N. Ellis not out 7
J. Hazlewood c Markram b Williams 2
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-2, W-2) 5
TOTAL (all out, 49.5 overs) 333
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-130 (Marsh), 2-157 (Connolly), 3-191 (Head), 4-203 (Carey), 5-241 (Renshaw), 6-251 (Green), 7-312 (Edwards), 8-312 (Zampa), 9-322 (Bartlett)
BOWLING: Jansen 7-0-53-2 (1w); Williams 7.5-0-54-3; Jansen 5-0-44-0; Maharaj 10-0-54-2; Markram 10-0-55-1; Fortuin 10-0-70-2 (1w).
RESULT: South Africa won by 32 runs.
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: David Miller
SERIES: South Africa lead three-match series 2-0.
Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2026
