South Africa ease past Australia in second ODI to secure unassailable series lead

JOHANNESBURG: Centuries from David Miller and captain Temba Bavuma, followed by a disciplined bowling performance, powered South Africa to a comfortable 32-run victory over Australia in the second ODI of the three-match home series here at The Wanderers Stadium on Sunday.

It was South Africa's sixth successive ODI series win against Australia since 2016/17.

Captain Bavuma hit 103, and Miller slammed 142 to propel South Africa to 365/9 after they were sent in to bat for the second time in the series.

"It was an overall good team performance," Bavuma said at the post-match presentation.

"It was tricky batting upfront, but we were able to handle that challenge. It was an unbelievable performance by David, then the bowlers did well. They held their nerve; we knew they would put us under pressure."

Australian captain Mitchell Marsh acknowledged his team's failure to build on a good start by Travis Head and himself.

Marsh and Head both hit 84, but as in the first match, Australia struggled in the middle overs against South Africa's spinners. They were bowled out for 333 despite some powerful late hitting by Xavier Bartlett, who made 50 off 28 balls.

"It's really disappointing," said Marsh. "We haven't been able to execute in those middle phases, which is a great learning curve for some of our younger guys. But credit to South Africa, who bowled well in those phases."

Bavuma and Miller shared a fourth-wicket stand of 156 off 135 balls with Bavuma batting solidly while the left-handed Miller made a career-best score off just 93 balls, hitting 12 fours and nine sixes.

It was the eighth ODI century by the 37-year-old Miller and his fourth against Australia. "They bring out the best in the guys," said Miller. "It's good to compete against the best in the world."

It was South Africa's "pink day" with the players wearing pink to raise awareness of breast cancer. Instead of their own names, the players wore the names of cancer survivors on their backs, and Miller wore the name of his mother, Jenny.

"She's been through a lot and it was nice to represent my mom and everything she's been through," he said.

With high totals a regular occurrence at the Wanderers, Australia seemed well on the way to chasing down the target as Marsh and Head put on 130 for the first wicket inside 17 overs.

The match changed when Marsh was bowled by Fortuin and the innings gradually lost momentum against a three-pronged spin attack, with left-armers Keshav Maharaj and Bjorn Fortuin and off-spinner Aiden Markram all bowling their full quota of ten overs.