Nine Sixes and a Series: Miller's 142 Carries South Africa Past Australia's 130-Run Start at the Wanderers

The first ball of the day at the Wanderers took Aiden Markram's wicket, and for a while it looked as though Australia's decision to field would be the story. Josh Hazlewood had two wickets inside seven overs, South Africa were 93 for 3 in the 16th, and even after 30 overs the score was a modest 181 for 3. Then David Miller, who had been quiet through a fifty from 45 balls, stopped being quiet.

South Africa 365 for 9. Australia 333 all out in 49.5 overs. A 32-run win that was closer than the margin suggests and further away than Australia's start promised. Miller made 142 from 93 balls, with 12 fours and nine sixes, and shared 156 with Temba Bavuma, whose 103 was the calmer innings that allowed Miller to be the louder one. Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head added 130 for Australia's first wicket, and for 17 overs a chase of 366 looked like a real one. It never quite became one again. South Africa have the series, 2-0, with a match to spare.

South Africa's innings began about as badly as an innings can. Markram was caught by Cooper Connolly off Hazlewood from the first ball, Quinton de Kock hit two sixes and was gone for 15 at 36 for 2, and Bavuma himself survived a review in the sixth over. Matthew Breetzke, the centurion from Durban, made a brisk 34 from 28 and added 57 with his captain before Jack Edwards had him caught behind at 93. Breetzke had survived an umpire's-call review of his own in the 13th over. South Africa were not yet in trouble, but they were a long way from comfort.

What followed was a partnership built in two gears. Bavuma reached fifty from 61 balls and Miller his from 45, and South Africa were 181 for 3 after 30 overs — a platform, not a total. The stand ended at 249 in the 38th over, when Bavuma was caught by Xavier Bartlett for 103, his hundred having come from 112 balls. By then the damage had started. Miller kept going: his second fifty and more took 48 balls, and even after Tristan Stubbs fell cheaply, he added 46 from 27 balls with Marco Jansen. When Miller was finally caught by Cameron Green in the 47th over, South Africa had 331. Duan Jansen's 27 not out from 18 did the rest. South Africa made 184 in their last 20 overs.

The defence was more measured than dominant. Marco Jansen, Lizaad Williams and Duan Jansen shared 19.5 overs for 151 and five wickets; Maharaj, Markram and Fortuin bowled 30 overs for 179 and took the other five. It was not the spin stranglehold of Durban, but it was enough. Every time Australia built a partnership, someone broke it.

Australia's reply began as though 366 were a formality. Marsh made 84 from 53 balls with five sixes, Head 84 from 76, and 130 came in 17 overs before Fortuin bowled Marsh. That was the moment the chase changed character. Connolly went for 10 at 157, Head was lbw to Markram at 191, and Alex Carey was lbw to Maharaj at 203 — three wickets for 73, and the required rate climbing all the while. Matt Renshaw's 32 and Cameron Green's 17 from 34 balls held things together without moving them forward, and both had gone by 251 for 6 in the 40th over.

Then Xavier Bartlett made it interesting. He hit five sixes in a 28-ball 50, and he and Jack Edwards added 61 from 41 balls to reach 312 for 6. With 54 needed from 23 balls and four wickets in hand, the game was alive again. Two balls later, it was over in all but name: Marco Jansen had Edwards caught by Breetzke and Adam Zampa caught by Maharaj off consecutive deliveries, and 312 for 6 was 312 for 8. Williams trapped Bartlett lbw at 322, and Hazlewood was the last man out, caught by Markram, with one ball of the innings left.

With the ball, Australia had one outstanding performance. Edwards took 5 for 67 — Bavuma, Breetzke, Miller, Stubbs and Marco Jansen, the backbone of the South African innings — and Alex Carey held five catches behind the stumps. Hazlewood took three. But Zampa's nine overs went for 77 without a wicket, and Australia's attack gave away 184 in the last 20 overs. In a match decided by 32 runs, that final stretch is where it was lost.

We will let the scorecard speak for the pitch. Six hundred and ninety-eight runs in 99.5 overs is a batting day by any measure, and both sides' best partnerships — 156 for South Africa, 130 for Australia — came at more than a run a ball. There were 15 sixes in South Africa's innings and 12 in Australia's, and the batters who stayed in scored very quickly indeed.

What the surface did not do was prevent wickets. Australia lost four batters lbw, three of them to the slower bowling of Markram and Maharaj. And the early wickets in South Africa's innings, Markram first ball and de Kock in the seventh over, show that the new ball was a threat for those who went after it too soon. The side batting first won again, as it did in Durban, though this time Australia's chase finished 32 short rather than 67.

There is a kind of innings that only experienced finishers play, and Miller played it here. He came in at 93 for 3, in the 16th over, with the innings in need of repair rather than acceleration. For 45 balls he gave Bavuma the stage, reaching a fifty that nobody would describe as reckless. Then he took his next 92 runs from 48 deliveries. Of his 142, 102 came in boundaries: 12 fours, nine sixes.

The value of the innings is in its timing. Without it, South Africa would have finished well short of 365, and Australia, with 130 on the board after 17 overs, would have been chasing something far more manageable. Miller's patience earned him the right to his power, and when the power came, it was the difference between a good total and one that could survive a 130-run start. On a day when the ball kept flying, his was the flight that mattered.

Our preview leaned towards South Africa, citing home advantage, momentum and conditions at altitude, and South Africa won by 32 runs. We named Travis Head as Australia's player to watch, arguing his aggression was the key to levelling the series; he made 84 from 76 and was part of a 130-run opening stand, though it was Marsh's 84 from 53 that did the early damage. Head was lbw to Markram.

Several of our other points did not hold. Our South African player to watch, Matthew Breetzke, made a useful 34 from 28, but the match was decided by Miller and Bavuma, neither of whom our verdict singled out. We framed Keshav Maharaj at altitude as a key battle; he bowled a solid 10 overs for 54 and took two wickets, but did not dominate as he had in Durban. We suggested the Wanderers' conditions would suit Australia's bowlers more than Kingsmead had, and Jack Edwards did take 5 for 67 — yet Australia still conceded 365. We also mentioned Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi as South Africa's pace depth and Marnus Labuschagne in Australia's batting; none of them appeared on this scorecard.

South Africa have won the series 2-0, and the 3rd ODI in Potchefstroom on September 30 is a dead rubber. It will not feel like one for the players still pressing for places: Breetzke has a hundred and a quick 34 across the two games, Duan Jansen's 27 not out from 18 gave the finish its final push, and Bavuma's hundred at the Wanderers came when his side needed it most.

Australia have one game left to take something from the tour. They have now twice put together big opening stands — 90 without loss in Durban and 130 here — and twice lost the game in the overs that followed. The top of their order is not the problem. The middle is, and it has one more chance to show otherwise.