South Africa and Pakistan are locked at 1-1 heading into the third ODI, which takes place at SuperSport Park Centurion on Friday afternoon.
It’s unfortunate that a cracking game of cricket in Durban was marred by controversial remarks made by Sarfraz Ahmed toward Andile Phelukwayo.
The Proteas all-rounder would have the last laugh, however, as he and Rassie van der Dussen guided the hosts to a five-wicket win at Kingsmead. The teams head inland head to SuperSport Centurion on Friday for the third ODI. Let’s take a look:
South Africa vs Pakistan | Friday 25 January | SuperSport Park Centurion, Gauteng | 13:00
To Win Match
South Africa 47/100
Tie 35/1
Pakistan 17/10
South Africa
There are a couple of changes to the South African squad heading into the last three one day internationals. Beuran Hendricks has been called up with Dale Steyn and Quinton de Kock returning the fold after being rested in Port Elizabeth and Durban. Duanne Olivier, Dane Paterson and Heinrich Klaasen all miss out going forward.
Ottis Gibson’s charges were made to work hard for victory on Wednesday in Durban. Pakistan were very much on the ropes at 112-8, before a 45-ball 59 from Hasan Ali propelled the visitors to 203 all out. Andile Phelukwayo starred with the ball – and would later star with the bat – taking 4-22 in 9.5 overs. The Hollywoodbets Dolphins all-rounder will look to continue his fine form in order to edge the likes of Dwaine Pretorius, Chris Morris and Wiaan Mulder for one of two all-rounder starting berths in England and Wales later in the year.
You’d expect Quinton de Kock to shore up a South African top order that has either lacked urgency in PE or looked a bit powderpuff in Durban. De Kock is an absolute gun at the top of the order and will provide the perfect foil to Hashim Amla’s more measured approach.
Dale Steyn is expected to return to the starting XI. The 35-year-old showed he still has what it takes to perform in this format of the game in the three ODIs he played in Australia last year. He – along with Kagiso Rabada – both took seven wickets in that series with Steyn returning a very impressive economy rate of 3.48.
Van der Dussen will use the Centurion ODI the cement his place in the side ahead of the World Cup. The Lions’ batsman has been sensational in his first two one day internationals scoring 93 and 80*. for a handy average of 173. Of course, that’s set to come down as his career continues, but you wouldn’t bet against him putting in another strong performance on the Highveld where he’s played all of his school and provincial/franchise cricket.
Pakistan
Unfortunately for Pakistan, a couple of very good individual performances in Durban have been overshadowed by controversial comments made by Sarfraz Ahmed which were picked up in the stump mic.
We’ll not focus too much on that and instead look at some of the positives from Pakistan’s performance. Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shadab Khan were excellent with the ball and will likely be key again in Centurion. I feel like Mohammad Amir could come back into the side for Hussain Talat, whose skills with the ball were severely under-utilised. Amir adds far more bite with ball in hand, and is no mug with the bat either, averaging a shade over 20.
It’ll be interesting to see whether or not Sarfraz Ahmed keeps his place in the side. Mohammad Rizwan is in the squad and will likely take the gloves off of the disgraced skipper.
Weather-wise, it’s not looking particularly promising in the evening. Very hot days tend to lead to some pretty impressive, albeit short, storms in the afternoon on the Highveld. According to weather stations, a 32-degree scorcher is set to give way to a pretty rainy evening. Let’s hope the weather services are wrong in this case.
Verdict: South Africa 47/100
De Kock’s return should make all the difference for me. He’s the perfect yin to Amla’s yang at the top of the order. With this, coupled with all of the controversy flying around the visitor’s camp, you can see a more settled South African side running out winners in Centurion.
