South Africa vs. Australia, 3rd T20I: Date, Time, Live Stream, TV Info, Preview

South Africa and Australia meet at Newlands on Wednesday for the decider in their three-match Twenty20 series.

Venue: Newlands, Cape Town

Date: Wednesday, March 9

Start time: 6 p.m local time (4 p.m GMT)

Live on: SuperSport (South Africa), Channel 9 (Australia), SkySports (UK), Willow TV (USA and Canada) and Star Sports (India)

Weather: No chance of rain, according to AccuWeather.com. It's going to be a perfectly pleasant 18 degrees Celsius as the heat of the day begins to fade.

Overview

In their last four T20s, South Africa have managed to produce some thrilling cricket. The thing with thrilling cricket is that it’s not always a good thing. While the Proteas have managed to win under pressure on three of those occasions, something many will view as progress, they struggled in their last match.

Chasing high scores at the Wanderers isn’t exactly surprising, but South Africa’s bowling left much to be desired on Sunday.

Dale Steyn had replaced Kyle Abbott, and while Steyn’s return from injury was more than reasonable, Abbott’s bowling at the death was clearly missed. However, there is no point in harping on too much about the loss.

This is T20, of course, and one bad over—like Chris Morris had when he bowled two wides and a no ball in a single over—is the kind of thing that can cost you a game.

South Africa should not fret, though. One of the main reasons this T20 series is even being played is to get the balance right before they head to the World T20. South Africa, thus, might be tempted into trying a side with Abbott, Steyn and Kagiso Rabada as the front-line fast bowlers with David Wiese and Imran Tahir offering variation.

This lineup is far from perfect, though, as it only offers the captain five bowling options and if things go awry, there is nobody to turn to. Part-timers JP Duminy and Farhaan Behardien haven’t exactly set the world alight with their bowling recently, but Duminy is likely to play a role on the subcontinent.

The question, then, is if South Africa could be so brave as to play all three front-line quicks and continue to use both Wiese and Morris as part-time options while Tahir features at the main spinner.

Such a configuration would mean booting a batsman, though, which will weaken the batting lineup. It’s a convoluted selection quagmire that should make you glad you only watch from the sidelines.

Whatever South Africa decide to do in the final fixture against Australia, it’s unlikely it will even end up being the solution in India. For now, it’s perhaps best to just focus on the task at hand; beat Australia and win the series to take some momentum into the World T20.

Key players

South Africa

Kagiso Rabada has, once again, been exceptional. He has four wickets in two games at an average of 12.75 and an economy rate of 6.37. His knack for taking wickets up front will be crucial for South Africa, but he will need support in the middle overs to curb the flow of runs.

Australia

David Warner reminded everyone why he is such a dangerous player in the second T20. While it's strange to see him buried in the middle order, it clearly hasn't impacted his ability to absolutely obliterate bowlers. 

Squads

South Africa: Faf du Plessis (captain), Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock (wk), AB de Villiers, David Miller, JP Duminy, Farhaan Behardien, Kyle Abbott, Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada, Imran Tahir, Rilee Rossouw, David Wiese, Chris Morris, Aaron Phangiso.

Australia: Steve Smith (captain), Aaron Finch, David Warner, Shane Watson, Peter Nevill (wk), Mitchell Marsh, Andrew Tye, Josh Hazlewood, Ashton Agar, Glenn Maxwell, Adam Zampa, John Hastings, Usman Khawaja, James Faulkner, Nathan Coulter-Nile.