Today at 16:00 GMT, or 11:00 a.m. ET Australia and South Africa will come together at SuperSport Park in Centurion for the third match of their pre-World T20 ODI. These two squads have not been able to play much cricket lately due to massive rainfall, and today figures to be no exception. Live stream the match free by clicking this link.
According to reports, the Gauteng region is in the midst of unusually high amounts of showers casting this match's feasibility in doubt. The poor weather could dissipate by the evening, but another shortened match appears imminent.
The South African duo of Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock should be taking advantage of the shortened games and how they transform the matches into offensive affairs, but there's doubt as to whether these types of games are adequate prep for the Worlds. Since these matchups are essentially high-profile tune-ups though, there are some benefits to them even with all the precipitation.
South African up-and-coming bowler Beuran Hendricks was given captaincy for the second match. Unfortunately, despite being South Africa's leading wicket-taker in domestic T20s, he struggled under the international spotlight. Today, he will be part of the starting squad, but the captaincy has reverted to du Plessis.
While South Africa surely possesses some powerful batsmen, Australia's David Warner and Brad Hodge performed admirably as well, and will provide stiff competition today. The Aussies' bowling needs improvement going forward, so for now Nathan Coulter-Nile will be their top man. He was the only bowler to take a wicket, but the oval at Centurion should be conducive to his style.
STARTING SQUADS:
South Africa
Faf du Plessis (captain), Kyle Abbott, Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock (wkt), AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Beuran Hendricks, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Aaron Phangiso, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.
Australia
George Bailey (captain), Dan Christian, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Brad Haddin (wkt), Moises Henriques, Brad Hodge, Brad Hogg, Glenn Maxwell, James Muirhead, Mitchell Starc, David Warner, Shane Watson, Cameron White.
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