Australia vs South Africa: Triangular Series Final Highlights, Scorecard, Report

South Africa reigned supreme in the Triangular Series final in Harare, notching a comfortable six-wicket win against Australia. The winning runs were struck by AB de Villiers, as noted here by the Cricket South Africa Twitter account:

After South Africa won the toss and decided to field, a fast bowling clinic from Dale Steyn tore through the Australia batting line-up, helping to limit the Baggy Greens to a score of 217-9 from their 50 overs.

Well short of a competitive total, the Proteas were able to reach the target required with 55 balls to spare thanks to an excellent knock of 96 from Faf du Plessis.

Batsman	Dismissal	Runs	Minutes	Balls
AJ Finch	b Steyn	54	115	87
PJ Hughes	c de Villiers b Steyn	15	18	16
SPD Smith	c Miller b Parnell	10	20	15
GJ Bailey*	b Imran Tahir	12	38	28
MR Marsh	b Parnell	27	67	46
GJ Maxwell	lbw b Steyn	0	1	1
BJ Haddin†	lbw b Steyn	6	37	19
JP Faulkner	c Miller b Morkel	39	75	37
MG Johnson	c Phangiso b Morkel	6	9	6
not out	29	59	46	0
not out	0	1	0	0
(b 4, lb 5, w 9, nb 1)	19
Total	(9 wickets; 50 overs; 225 mins)	217	(4.34 runs per over)
Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
DW Steyn	10	1	34	4
M Morkel	10	0	58	2
WD Parnell	10	1	40	2
AM Phangiso	10	0	36	0
Imran Tahir	10	0	40	1

Aaron Finch played well at the top of the order for the Baggy Greens, scoring 54 from 87 balls. But aside from his efforts, a late flurry of 39 from James Faulkner and a dogged 29 from Mitchell Starc, the Australians showed little resistance up against South Africa’s outstanding bowling attack.

Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/Associated Press

Finch has established himself as something of a limited overs specialist, but perhaps his performances should have earned him a call up to the Test arena by now, as noted here by cricket statistician Mohandas Menon:

The leader of the Proteas' bowling attack has long been Steyn, and he showed his class once again with a superb display with the ball. The paceman finished with figures of 4-34 from his ten overs, showing once again that he has the qualities to be both economical and prolific in myriad formats.

Former South Africa skipper Graeme Smith paid tribute to his former teammate’s performance:

Steyn was well supported in his efforts too, most notably by Wayne Parnell and Morne Morkel, who both bagged two wickets a-piece. Australia eventually did well to post a semi-competitive score of 217-9 from their allotted overs; at one stage they were 144-8.

Batsman	Dismissal	Runs	Minutes	Balls
HM Amla	c Bailey b Smith	51	95	75
Q de Kock†	c Bailey b Maxwell	7	12	7
F du Plessis	c Faulkner b Johnson	96	172	99
WD Parnell	b Faulkner	6	23	24
AB de Villiers*	not out	57	70	41
JP Duminy	not out	0	1	0
Extras	(b 1, w 2, nb 1)	4
Total	(4 wickets; 40.5 overs; 188 mins)	221	(5.41 runs per over)
Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
MG Johnson	9.5	0	52	1
GJ Maxwell	2	0	12	1
MR Marsh	5	0	25	0
MA Starc	4	0	27	0
JP Faulkner	8	0	54	1
NM Lyon	10	1	41	0
SPD Smith	2	0	9	1

Following on from such a strong bowling performance the pressure was off the South Africa batsmen. And with a man like Hashim Amla opening the batting, you know that the response will typically get off to a steady start.

Despite losing the wicket of Quinton de Kock early on, Amla played with his usual poise to make a personal total of 54 from 87 balls:

But it was Du Plessis who was the star of the show and although he scored a scintillating 96 from 99 balls, he’ll have been disappointed to have fallen just short of a century in a high profile final; he lost his composure in pursuit of his 100 and slapped a full toss down the throat of mid-on.

Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/Associated Press

Nonetheless, his innings was the bedrock in the Proteas' first win in a final over the Baggy Greens for a long time, as noted here by ESPNcricinfo:

The Australians will certainly be sick of the sight of Du Plessis—who was later named man of the series— for he always seems to do the business against them, as noted here by cricket statistician Mazher Arshad:

For South Africa this was a timely tournament win in a limited overs format. Victory over the Aussies will give them some excellent momentum ahead of the upcoming World Cup and you can bet they’ll be one of the favourites for the tournament after their dominant display here.

From an Australian perspective there is plenty to work on. They’re a team that can be superb on any given day, but having lost to minnows Zimbabwe in this Triangular series, there is also plenty of weaknesses that the better teams will readily exploit when the World Cup rolls around.

All statistics and information is courtesy of ESPNcricinfo. Highlights to follow.