Labuschagne wins first ODI for Australia after coming in as concussion substitute
The first ODI between South Africa and Australia at Bloemfontein was a sort of flashback of the events that took place in the 2019 Ashes series. Batting first South Africa got off to a bad start as the Proteas lost five wickets with 100 runs on the board with only the captain Bavuma standing tall amidst all the chaos at the other end. He was batting fluently but was in search of a partner to stitch a partnership and he found one in fast bowling all-rounder Marco Jansen.
The duo added 57 runs for the sixth wicket giving some sort of flexibility to the South African batting innings but that wasn’t enough as the innings came to an end soon after Jansen got out and it was up to Bavuma to take the team to a respectable total which he did by scoring an unbeaten century which took the score to 222.
It was a collective bowling effort from Australia led by Josh Hazlewood who picked up three wickets. He was well supported by all-rounder Marcus Stoinis who took a couple of wickets.
The Rescue Act
In response, Australia collapsed to 113-7 in the 17th over before the unlikely duo of Labuschagne and Agar, who finished with a career-best 48 not out, steered Australia towards its first ODI victory in South Africa since 2011. Labuschagne who was picked in the series after an injury to Steve Smith was not a part of the playing eleven. He came in as a concussion substitute for Cameron Green who was hit on the helmet and played a match-winning innings for his country. He was well supported by Ashton Agar as the duo added 112 runs for the eighth wicket
The Concussion Substitute
“What a roller coaster,” Labuschagne said in the post-match presentation. “My mum last night was adamant that I was playing. I said, ‘Mum, I’m not in the team, I’m not in the team’. “I guess I’ve just got some weird things that happen around concussion.”
Australia leads the five-match series 1-0
