Even sides look for capital gains

Wednesday, November 19, Canberra
Start time 1420 local (0320GMT)

Australia and South Africa could hardly have been faced with venues of more differing fortunes for the start of this one-day series. The WACA remains an iconic ground due to its fast and bouncy pitch but appears to be out of favour, having missed out on hosting a Test this summer. It needs upgrading and faces an uncertain future, with a new Perth stadium set to be built over the next few years.

By comparison, Manuka Oval in Canberra is growing in popularity with Cricket Australia as a boutique venue. It hosted Australia's ODI side for the first time in 2012-13, held the Sheffield Shield final last summer when the SCG was unavailable, and has been announced as a neutral venue for the BBL final this season. Significant work in recent years has included the installation of light towers and a resurfacing of the playing area, and it will host three World Cup games. It would not be surprising if it was given the chance to host Test cricket at some point in the coming years.

For now, Canberrans will settle for another chance to see international cricket, this time the second- and third-ranked ODI teams in the world, with the series level at 1-1. South Africa's sloppy fielding in the first game gave lives to Australia's batsmen and a sharper performance in the second match showed that the visitors remain a force to be reckoned with. Australia's batting line-up is deep and capable of big things, but is still prone to collapsing against quality attacks. South Africa also have a strong batting outfit but they lost seven wickets in a small chase on Sunday, so both teams have plenty of batting improvement in them.

Form guide

(last five completed games most recent first)

Australia LWWWW
South Africa WLWWW

The only other time Australia have played an ODI at Manuka Oval, Shane Watson scored 122 from 111 deliveries. That was against West Indies in February 2013, and it was his first international back in nearly six weeks after hurting his calf in the Boxing Day Test. Again Watson is on the comeback trail, again from a calf injury. Five matches in to his international return and he is yet to post a really imposing score, but with a Test series against India looming he needs some runs to boost his confidence. Being back on a belter of a pitch in Canberra might be just what he needs.

It is rare for Hashim Amla to fail more than a couple of times in a row, so after he was out for 8 and 10 in the two WACA games the Australians will be aware that he might be due a big score, especially on a good batting surface. The absence of Mitchell Johnson will also help; it was Johnson who got rid of Amla in both Perth matches.

Australia have made some changes to their squad for the remainder of the series, most notably giving Johnson a rest and including a specialist spinner, Xavier Doherty. The 15-man squad gives them plenty of bowling options. Josh Hazlewood impressed in Perth but it remains to be seen whether the selectors will use him in all five games, and James Faulkner offers another all-round possibility besides Glenn Maxwell.

Australia (possible) 1 Aaron Finch, 2 David Warner, 3 Shane Watson, 4 Steven Smith, 5 George Bailey (capt), 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Glenn Maxwell/James Faulkner, 8 Matthew Wade (wk), 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Josh Hazlewood/Kane Richardson, 11 Xavier Doherty

There seems little reason for South Africa to change the winning formula from Sunday's game, although using Farhaan Behardien's medium pace as their fifth bowling option remains a risky strategy.

South Africa (possible) 1 Hashim Amla, 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 Rilee Rossouw, 5 AB de Villiers (capt), 6 Farhaan Behardien, 7 David Miller, 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Imran Tahir

The pitch is expected to be good for batting - last time an ODI was played there, Australia made 7 for 329 batting first against West Indies. The forecast for Wednesday is for a sunny day and a top of 27C.

Stats and trivia

• This will be the fourth ODI played at Manuka Oval - the venue debuted in the 1992 World Cup - and the second involving Australia
• Prior to Josh Hazlewood's 5 for 31 on Sunday, the previous three five-wicket hauls for Australia in ODI cricket had all been taken by one man - Mitchell Starc

"The wicket looks an absolute belter. Hopefully it's high scoring and we get one more run than them. We've got a bit of info and intel from the NSW boys, because they've played here a bit. It's a big ground, I'm pretty sure it'll be high scoring."
Darren Lehmann, the Australia coach, on the Canberra pitch

"Game one we were playing at about 60% of our capability, which wasn't good enough. The other day we pulled it together with the ball and if we're honest with ourselves we should have won by six or seven wickets. But that's the nature of the game … we'll look at Perth and everything we did wrong we'll try to make up for now."
Dale Steyn believes there is plenty of improvement left in South Africa