Steve Smith's Australia will be looking forward to save that red face when they take on South Africa in the final ODI in their five-match series in Cape Town on Wednesday. The Proteas lead the Aussies, no. 1 at the moment in the ICC ODI rankings, with a 4-0 result.
Faf du Plessis has done an impressive job in the absence of regular skipper AB De Villiers, who was ruled out of the series owing to an injury. Almost everyone in the Proteas team, from David Miller and Du Plessis to Andile Phehlukwayo and Kyle Abbott, have put their best foot forward to make a mark in the ODI series.
Smith and David Warner have been the only ones who have shone with the bat for the away side and their bowlers' inexperience in the series has been a cause of major concern for the Aussies. With Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and James Pattinson out of the series, John Hastings remained the only hope.
Newbies Chris Tremain, Joe Mennie and Daniel Worrall also failed to make a mark, and so has Adam Zampa. The Australians haven't been able to bowl out the Proteas even once over the previous four 50-over matches.
Can the Aussies save their red face now or can South Africa bow out with the highest of highs with yet another victory on Wednesday? That remains to be seen. The occasion is already historic for Cricket South Africa as their national cricket team bagged their first bilateral ODI series win over Australia in as many as seven years.
South Africa beat Australia 4-1 in a series in Australia in 2009. Australia, meanwhile, have never lost all of the matches in a five-game ODI series.
Schedule
South Africa vs Australia is scheduled to start at 1:30 pm local time (11:30 am GMT | 5 pm IST) on October 12.
Where to watch live
India: TV - Ten 2, Ten 1 HD. Live streaming - Ten Sports Live.
UK: TV - Sky Sports 5. Live streaming - Watch Sky Sports.
USA: TV - Willow TV. Live streaming - Willow TV YouTube.
Australia: TV - Fox Sports. Live streaming - Fox Sports Australia Live.
South Africa: TV - SuperSport. Live streaming - SuperSport Live.
