Ken Borland

South Africa captain Faf du Plessis warned on Friday that nobody’s place was certain for the ICC World T20 after his side were hammered by six wickets with five overs to spare by Australia in their T20 international at Centurion.

South Africa leave for Bangladesh and the ICC World T20 on Saturday and will enter the tournament with little expectation judging by their recent form.

“Having guys in form will be really important if we’re going to do well in the T20 World Cup. If people aren’t on top of their game then we’ll definitely look at other options, nobody is a certainty,” Du Plessis told a press conference after the match.

Neither Dale Steyn nor Morne Morkel played in the T20 series against Australia and their stand-ins – the likes of Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Wayne Parnell and Beuran Hendricks – were unable to reproduce their domestic form against what Du Plessis described as “a powerhouse batting line-up”.

“Our bowlers made a lot of mistakes tonight – we bowled the wrong lines and lengths, but defending less than 130 makes it difficult for the bowlers. I wanted them to bowl as straight as possible, but there was way too much square-of-the-wicket strokeplay. But having Dale and Morne back will be a huge bonus,” Du Plessis admitted.

The captain also conceded that both the batting and fielding had not been up to scratch on Friday night.

“We made a lot of mistakes with the bat and we didn’t lay a good base for our big hitters; David Miller and Albie Morkel need to come in when we’re on top. The pitch was quite tough for the first six overs, but we need to adapt and getting out caught like we did was soft dismissals. It sums up our batting effort and nine times out of 10 you’re not going to win games with soft dismissals,” Du Plessis said.

South Africa have also been the international benchmark in terms of fielding, but since the departure of Rob Walter as the fielding coach, they have often looked lethargic and have not taken several crucial catches through the summer.

The one positive from the heavy defeat was the bowling of leg-spinner Imran Tahir, who took two for 21 in his four overs and showed that he certainly won’t be one of the passengers in Bangladesh.

“Imran bowled really well, which is a really good sign for us. He’s going to play a huge part in our success in the T20 World Cup, on those pitches, in those conditions,” Du Plessis acknowledged.

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South Africa were handed a six-wicket hammering with five overs to spare by Australia in the third and final T20 at Centurion on Friday, on the eve of their flight to Bangladesh for the ICC World T20.
Australia’s mix of seam and spin bowling flummoxed South Africa as they limped to 128 for seven after being sent in to bat.

Left-arm paceman Mitchell Starc immediately backed up Australia’s decision to field first as he bowled a maiden over first up and struck Quinton de Kock in the throat, before trapping Hashim Amla lbw for two in his second over.

Starc returned later to bowl Albie Morkel, who had briefly thrilled his home crowd with two sixes in his 18, with a brilliant yorker and was Australia’s most impressive bowler with an outstanding two for 16 in his four overs.

Spinners Glenn Maxwell and Brad Hogg were Australia’s other most successful bowlers with two wickets apiece.

De Kock was the one South African batsman to show some quality on a slowish pitch as he scored 41 off 40 balls before wrist-spinner Hogg ripped a delivery across him to have the left-hander caught behind.

South Africa, who leave on Saturday for the ICC World T20, will be concerned by their poor batting display, especially the quantity of balls hit straight to fielders.

Faf du Plessis (5), JP Duminy (13), AB de Villiers (11) and David Miller (2) were all dismissed in soft fashion as they stupidly picked out fielders with lofted strokes.

Tailenders Wayne Parnell (17*) and Beuran Hendricks (12*) spared some of the home team’s blushes as they added 25 for the eighth wicket in the last three-and-a-half overs.

Australia made an aggressive start to their run-chase as openers Aaron Finch and Cameron White (14) added 43 off 29 balls to leave a capacity crowd resigned to defeat.

Finch was not afraid to go the aerial route as he belted 39 off 27 balls and Shane Watson scored 35 off 28 balls as Australia cruised to victory.

South Africa had few ways of getting back into the contest, but leg-spinner Imran Tahir was their most effective option, taking two for 21 in his four overs, but his batsmen had left him with far too much work to do.

The home side were left to rue the rain disappearing from Gauteng as Australia dealt a heavy blow to their World T20 plans.

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