Australia have more versatility than South Africa

Sport360 staff 07:27 06/09/2014
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  • Ace of pace: Mitchell Johnson believes Australia hold an edge over South Africa in the tri-series final.

    Predictability will meet adaptabil­ity when South Africa face Australia in today’s triangular series final in Harare – at least according to Mitch­ell Johnson.

    Days after fracturing South Af­rica all rounder Ryan McLaren’s right arm, the Australian quick has ramped up the mind games after the Proteas saw off Zimbabwe on Thursday to confirm their place in the final at Harare Sports Club.

    Johnson claimed that Australia can easily forecast South Africa’s game plan, and suggested his own side are more versatile in the way that they go about their cricket

    “We know what they’re like and they’re pretty structured in their ways,” he said. “They like to play a certain way and they do it most times. It gets brought up in most meetings that we have, that they have that structure.

    “We’re ready to adapt to any con­ditions and we’ve done that in the past. We go out there and play our own game.”

    There is some truth in Johnson’s assessment. Australia have a mid­dle order packed with power hitters such as Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh, who have twice seen them to scores above 325 in a tournament characterised by slow, dry pitches.

    Meanwhile, South Africa’s bats­man tend to be more orthodox as they rely on their inherent qual­ity – as they did when AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis scored hundreds to chase down a target of 328 in the first meeting between the two sides last week.

    However, Australia’s own adapt­ability has not always been up to the mark – most notably when they failed to get the hang of a turning pitch on Sunday and lost to Zimba­bwe for the first time in 31 years.

    While Australia appear to have settled on their best team since that defeat, with Steve Smith return­ing to provide a second spin option and Kane Richardson preferred to James Faulkner, McLaren’s depar­ture has forced South Africa to re­balance their side.

    Rilee Rossouw was drafted into the team to provide an extra bats­man in Thursday’s victory over Zim­babwe, as Imran Tahir made way to leave Aaron Phangiso as the only specialist spinner.

    “We felt it was really important to get runs on the board, which worked exceptionally well,” De Villiers said of the selections.

    “Saturday’s obviously a different opponent. It’s a possibility that we will use the same ploy.” 

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