South Africa’s cricketers administered another harsh defeat to the Australian squad on Sunday, handing the visiting Aussies a six-wicket defeat with 14 overs to spare and surpassing the modest 168 target set by the Australians with ease.
Batting collapses led to the most recent debacle in the fourth one-day international between Australia and South Africa.
The Aussies choose to bat first and lost their first five wickets faster than a Nick Kyrgios meltdown, scoring only 49. Their last five was hardly an improvement, producing only 58.
Wicketkeeper Matthew Wade took exception to South African spin bowler Tabraiz Shami’s tactics and only the intervention of the umpires prevented a cessation of diplomatic relations, or worse.
Despite their low output against the South African bowlers, there seemed to be an opportunity for redemption when Chris Tremain disposed of South Africans Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock with just 22 between them, but Adam Zampa, the Proteas skipper, took advantage of a dropped catch off Faf du Plessis that Zampa to go on to post the top score of 69.
As for the confrontation between Wade and Shami, it started when Wade feinted directly toward Shami as he, Wade, was running between the wickets. Unpleasant words ensued and the situation gave the appearance of becoming physical before the umpires seized the initiative and gave both players stern verbal reprimands for behavior unsuited to cricket.
