Hitting the winning run to finish 41 not out off 31 balls, Cameron White lead Australia to a nail-biting Twenty20 series win over South Africa at the ANZ Stadium Sunday night!
After the Proteas defeated Australia at the Adelaide Oval with a seven wicket victory, Australia stepped up their game and took charge in Melbourne, retaliating with a seven wicket win to square out the series just two nights previous to this final match on the Sunday.
South Africa finished with 6-145, portraying a comfortable win for the Australians, however when Glenn Maxwell was caught at deep midwicket leaving the home team needing 46 off 43 balls, the nerves settled in. Nonetheless, White kept his cool, and with just two balls to spare, Australia hit their target.
South African Quinton de Knock took the Proteas off to a ripper opening, taking 48 off 27, using the tiny short boundaries to his advantage.
James Faulkner was the Australian star and the man-of-the-series. With support from Pat Cummins, Cameron Boyce and Doug Bollinger, Faulkner took 3-28 and departed with 21 runs still needed off 25 balls.
In spite of being named in the ICC's ODI team of the year, Faulkner has been disregarded from the one-day series against South Africa starting on Friday in Perth.
South Africa's key batsmen, JP Duminy has been ruled out of action for six weeks due to a long-standing knee problem, and therefore ruled out of the one-day series against Australia.
Despite the enthralling end to the T20 series, all three matches have lacked action and luster without the key protagonists; Michael Clarke, AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn, and David Warner.
Furthermore, the Southern Stars women's team accomplished a 4-0 clean-sweep of the West Indies!
Annemarie de Villiers is studying sports science and has a dream to be a sports scientist for a professional club. Born in South Africa, raised in New Zealand and tertiary professionally qualified in Melbourne Australia.
Annemarie de Villiers' previous articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/annemarie-de-villiers.html