South Africa vs Australia, 2nd ODI at Bloemfontein, SA v AUS, Sep 09 2023 - Match Result

Not as unpredictable a game today but it sure had its moments of brilliancy. Australia are peaking and are on the verge of a series win. Here's Firdose Moonda's match report, check it out. For now, it's goodbye from me, my co-commentator, Alex Malcolm, and our scorers, Thilak Rama and Sudeep Poojari.

Vikas: "No matter how good a player you are you need luck. Marnus was looking out of contention and suddenly he is back in the thick of things. I remember Siraj being in the squad as a net bowler when he got his break in Australia due to some injuries. Funny game. "

Mitchell Marsh, Australia captain: Today was unbelievable. Batters were incredible, great day for Australia. Credit to our domestic cricket and the atmosphere Patty and Ron have created. Abbott did well, Zampa too. Looks really positive for the future. Ellis gives it 100 percent every ball. Lot of cricket for Australia ahead of him. To have 110 off the powerplay was amazing. Marnus just carried on. Our execution was as good as it gets with bat. I'm okay to bowl, will start in India and keep the reverse sweep away. We have a chance to win the series. Said to Zampa the other day that we've had two clean sweeps in the last two tours and got our first win. As a young squad, it'll be a nice to win the series and head to the World Cup.

Marnus Labuschagne, POTM: Most of them is family. It's always nice, a bit of added pressure, seeing family and getting the win. Still think I left a few runs out there, thought we could've opened up and gotten 430. But as the game does, it leaves you wanting more. Gotta be content. Was happy with how we got about it. We got to a great start with the bat and put pressure on them straight away. WC spot is one of those things that's not in my control at all. My thing is just enjoying playing cricket. Like I said to Shamsi, "if I go home, I get to see my daughter; if I go to the World Cup, I'll get to play a World Cup for Australia," so my job is to keep well. Yeah, yeah, nothing more than a family chat out there with Shamsi. Laughs

Temba Bavuma, SA captain: We need to up our game. Australia were on top from ball one. More conversations to be had in the changing room, most important thing is guys increasing intensity. We tried to pull things in, didn't tick that box. They put our guys under pressure with aggression. We couldn't bring the game back. Challenge is to put losses behind quickly, have honest feedback on areas to improve, get ourselves together and play our best cricket to compete with the Australians.

8:21pm: A 123-run thumping to take Australia 2-0. The batters set up the win and the bowlers didn't start all that well. De Kock and Bavuma kicked off in style but the visitors read conditions and adapted much better. The pacers went into the pitch, used the cutters, cross seamers well. Zampa had his work cut out and he stood up big time. The openers put up 81. Ellis took a great reaction catch to send back QDK, Zampa then got into the game. He pinned Bavuma lbw, had Markram with a great boundary catch. Hardie got his first ODI wicket - van der Dussen - with a cross seamer. Klaasen got going, Miller offered him support. But Zampa knocked Klaasen over with the googly. Miller's tall task was over when he was outpaced by Ellis. Not much resistance from the tail.

Advice: ""We are getting all the terrible games out of the way and saving our best for the World Cup". That's how I comfort myself. "

AussieFan: "@Afeef probably the quality of the SA teams are not the same."