PERTH: South Africa paceman Morne Morkel thrived on a fast WACA pitch to capture five wickets but the tourists made hard work of a three-wicket victory over Australia in the second One-day International in Perth on Sunday.

Morkel’s return of 5-21 was his best in one-day cricket and helped skittle Australia for a paltry 154 runs from only 41.4 overs on a day of brilliant sunshine.

Although losing both openers cheaply in reply and stumbling to 153-7, captain A.B. de Villiers (48) and David Miller (22 not out) ensured a regulation victory with over 22 overs to spare and levelling the five-match series 1-1.

Australia’s innings began disastrously, with Morkel having the dangerous David Warner caught behind for a duck before the same bowler caught Aaron Finch for eight at mid-on off the bowling of Dale Steyn (3-31).

Shane Watson (11) and Steven Smith (10) also went cheaply before George Bailey (25) and Australia’s top scorer Mitchell Marsh (67) steadied the innings with a 58-run partnership.

Vernon Philander broke the stand, however, with Faf Du Plessis taking a fine catch low at mid-on to remove Bailey, before Morkel had wicket-keeper Matthew Wade caught behind for 19 and Glenn Maxwell bowled for a duck in the same over.

Man-of-the-match Morkel captured his fifth wicket when Mitchell Johnson edged behind for three, leaving the hosts reeling at 129-8 and their hopes of building a solid total in tatters.

Australia quicks Josh Hazlewood and Johnson struck early to remove openers Quinton de Kock (4) and Hashim Amla (10) before Rilee Rossouw contributed a valuable 30 before swiping a nick behind off part-time spinner Maxwell.

Du Plessis and De Villiers drove South Africa to a comfortable 113-3 before Hazlewood struck to remove Du Plessis for 19 and Farhaan Behardien for a duck in successive balls.

Miller survived the hat-trick ball and an onslaught of short-pitched bowling from left-armer Johnson, but Hazlewood struck again to remove De Villiers and Vernon Philander for a duck for another chance at a hat-trick.

Steyn defied Hazlewood, however, and slogged his third delivery over the bowler to the fence to bring up the winning runs.

Hazlewood was the pick of the Australian bowlers with 5-31.

The third ODI will be played in Canberra on Wednesday.

Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA:

D.A. Warner c de Kock b Morkel 0 A.J. Finch c Morkel b Steyn 8 S.R. Watson lbw b Behardien 11 S.P.D. Smith c Imran b Morkel 10 G.J. Bailey c du Plessis b Philander 25 M.R. Marsh c Morkel b Steyn 67 M.S. Wade c de Kock b Morkel 19 G.J. Maxwell b Morkel 0 M.G. Johnson c de Kock b Morkel 3 N.M. Coulter-Nile c du Plessis b Steyn 2 J.R. Hazlewood not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-5, W-4) 9

TOTAL (all out, 41.4 overs) 154

FALL OF WKTS: 1-1, 2-14, 3-27, 4-34, 5-92, 6-125, 7-125, 8-129, 9-138.

BOWLING: Morkel 8-0-21-5 (2w); Philander 9-2-16-1; Steyn 7.4-1-35-3 (1w); Behardien 8-0-40-1 (1w); Imran Tahir 9-0-37-0.

SOUTH AFRICA:

Q. de Kock c Watson b Hazlewood 4 H.M. Amla c Wade b Johnson 10 F. du Plessis c Wade b Hazlewood 19 R.R. Rossouw c Smith b Maxwell 30 A.B. de Villiers c Wade b Hazlewood 48 F. Behardien c Warner b Hazlewood 0 D.A. Miller not out 22 V.D. Philander c Johnson b Hazlewood 0 D.W. Steyn not out 4

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-19) 20

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 27.4 overs) 157

FALL OF WKTS: 1-6, 2-21, 3-64, 4-113, 5-113, 6-141, 7-153.

DID NOT BAT: M. Morkel, Imran Tahir.

BOWLING: Johnson 8-1-47-1 (5w); Hazlewood 9.4-2-31-5; Coulter-Nile 6-0-54-0 (2w); Marsh 1-0-4-0 (1w); Maxwell 3-0-20-1 (3w).

RESULT: South Africa won by three wickets.

UMPIRES: J.D. Ward (Australia) and B.F. Bowden (New Zealand).

TV UMPIRE: N.J. Llong (England).

MATCH REFEREE: J. Srinath (India).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Morne Morkel.

FIRST MATCH: Perth, Australia won by 32 runs.

THIRD MATCH: Canberra (D/N), Nov 19.

FOURTH MATCH: Melbourne (D/N), Nov 21.

FIFTH MATCH: Sydney (D/N), Nov 23.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2014