Australia will be looking to salvage something from this series when they head to Adelaide for the third and final Test against South Africa starting Thursday. South Africa claimed the Hobart Test by an innings and 80 runs to take a 2-0 lead in the series and leave the Australian selectors scratching their heads. The Adelaide Test will be a day-night Test played with a pink ball starting at 2.30pm (AEDT).
While the Proteas batting line-up seemed at ease in Tasmania, piling on 326 in their only innings, the Aussies crumbled twice losing 10-85 in the first innings and 8-82 in the second.
Australia’s miserable batting performance in Hobart has resulted in a major overhaul of the squad going into the Third Test. Callum Ferguson, Joe Burns, Peter Nevill, Adam Voges and Joe Mennie all missed selection for the Adelaide Test, Voges, who was concussed in Hobart, the only non-omission.
Three batsman will make their Test debuts for Australia in Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb and Nic Maddinson, while paceman Jackson Bird will claim Mennie’s spot in the attack and Victorian Matthew Wade will relieve Nevill of wicket-keeping duty.
The South Africans, on the other hand, will most likely go into the Adelaide Test unchanged. While form has eluded star batsman Hashim Amla in the series so far, the middle order of the Proteas has more than picked up the slack, meaning their batting line-up should remain unaffected. Chinaman bowler Tabraiz Shamsi looks to be the only player pushing for selection after taking four wickets in South Africa’s latest warm up game featuring the pink ball. Vernon Philander has been marked questionable for the match after hurting his shoulder in an on field collision with Aussie Captain Steve Smith.
It is unknown whether the changes Australia have made will be their long term intentions going forward or whether they are just deciding to blood some youth in what is essentially a dead rubber. Regardless, for this match, I see a lot of inexperience coming up against the best pace attack in the world (even without Dale Steyn due to injury). Even if Philander were unavailable for this match, South Africa’s bowling stocks will be highlighted with the likely inclusion of veteran quick Morne Morkel.
South African captain Faf du Plessis could also miss the Test due to suspension. du Plessis will attend an ICC hearing Tuesday morning to answer to allogations of ball tampering. The skipper used saliva to shine the ball while he had a mint in his mouth in the Hobart Test, bringing into speculation ball tampering rules that state no outside substance is to be used when shining the ball.
Even though I tipped Australia to win the series 2-1 back in October, you have to bet on form going into this test match, and I think it’s hard to look past the dominance of the Proteas middle order and their pace attack. Coming up against an inexperienced Aussie batting line-up, I see them winning this one comfortably.
TIP: South Africa to Win - $2 at Sportsbet
South Africa’s middle order has been the dominant force with the bat this series, however, coming off a good innings in the pink ball warmup against the Victorian XI at the MCG, I’m sticking with Hashim Amla to finally come through this match.
TIP: Hashim Amla SA top scorer 1st Innings - $4.33 at Sportsbet
Or if, like me, you have absolutely no idea how this match will play out due to there being five changes in the Australian side, just back the tie at $101.
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