South African cricket supporters have spent the past few weeks anxiously monitoring the fitness of their fast bowlers rather than focusing solely on team strategy. Cricket South Africa announced on August 21 that Kagiso Rabada suffered a hamstring issue, followed in quick succession by similar injuries to Ottneil Baartman, Lungi Ngidi, and Kwena Maphaka, removing them from the squad originally selected to face Australia at Kingsmead.
Attention eventually shifted to the batting lineup, especially following a prolific start to the domestic first-class season where 12 players combined to score two double centuries and 13 centuries over the opening six matches. However, Ryan Rickelton was the only one among those 12 century makers selected for the ODI squad.
Batting at No. 5 for the first time in his 18 ODI innings, Rickelton contributed 27 off 25 balls before hitting a short delivery from Adam Zampa toward the square leg boundary, where Matt Renshaw held a skillful catch. His dismissal left South Africa at 125/4 in the 25th over after Temba Bavuma had already departed. David Miller was subsequently dismissed in the 34th over with the score at 168/5, leaving Matthew Breetzke to anchor the innings.
Breetzke found a strong partner in Marco Jansen, and the pair constructed an explosive 107-run partnership off just 81 deliveries. Their efforts lifted South Africa to a final total of 297/8, setting Australia a target that required the highest successful run chase ever recorded in a day ODI at the Durban ground.
Playing with immense focus, Breetzke compiled a 106-ball 112 to register his second century in the format. The milestone made him the highest run-scorer in ODI history after a player’s first 14 innings. His partner, Jansen, provided crucial power hitting lower down the order, smashing 75 off 59 balls with more than two-thirds of his runs arriving in boundary hits.
Speaking after the match, Breetzke explained how their crucial mid-innings partnership came together under pressure. “It was never the plan for [Jansen] to go in guns blazing, but we fed off each other’s energy and that changed the momentum of our innings,” Breetzke said. He added that reaching his hundred brought immense emotional relief, noting, “There were a few stages where I wanted to take a risk, and then we kept losing wickets. So when I got to the century it was a relief.”
Australia’s reply started at a frantic pace that initially put the hosts on the back foot. South Africa had managed only 40/2 during their opening powerplay and took 128 balls to reach triple digits. In contrast, Australia raced to 96/1 in their powerplay and brought up their hundred in just 68 deliveries, driven by a blazing 90-run partnership off 56 balls between Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head.
Marsh was particularly dominant, striking 60 off 36 balls at a strike rate of 166.66, with all but 10 of his runs coming via boundaries. However, his dismissal in the 10th over—chipping Keshav Maharaj to cover—marked a sudden turn in momentum. Marsh proved to be the only Australian batter to pass fifty, as the visitors lost all 10 wickets for 140 runs over 32 overs.
Maharaj triggered the collapse with a masterful spell, taking 4/20 while removing Cameron Green and debutant Jack Edwards. Edwards was caught at slip by Jansen, who held a sharp, low catch. Jansen followed that up with a spectacular fielding effort to dismiss Matt Renshaw for 44, ending an innings that had survived four separate partnerships to keep Australia in contention.
Renshaw launched a pull shot off Gerald Coetzee high into the Durban sky toward midwicket. Running at full speed, Jansen made a diving, one-handed attempt with his right hand, securing the ball right before sliding along the ground to ensure it stayed off the turf. “He does do special things, and that was a special catch,” Breetzke later remarked about Jansen’s effort.
South Africa wrapped up the 67-run victory 30 deliveries after Renshaw’s dismissal, delighting the 12,108 spectators in attendance. The fixture marked South Africa’s first home game since January and their first match in Durban since December 2024, capping a memorable performance for the home crowd. The report also notes that every coach has told everyone they’ve ever tried to teach to play cricket everywhere, watch the ball. The report also notes that maybe partly because the opening six matches of the new first-class season yielded a bumper crop of two double centuries and 13 centuries scored by a dozen different players. The report also notes that now they are victims of a hamdemic. The report also notes that consequently not many eyes were on the other side of the game’s primary equation: batting. The report also notes that even allowing for the code-switching between formats, the batting kids were alright. The report also notes that when the scoreboard read 168/5, before he was joined in the middle by Marco Jansen, he would also see David Miller’s effort snuffed out in the 34th. The report also notes that breetzke, a live hand-grenade of a human, all tightly torqued focus and fury, played his shots as if they were expletives screamed across a dodgy bar at an hour when decent people were in bed.
