Following his match-winning century in opposition to South Africa within the second ODI, Australia batter Marnus Labuschagne mentioned that attending to ICC Cricket World Cup spot is just not in his management and all he can do is get pleasure from his sport and added that he felt he may have scored extra. Australia sealed their place on the summit of the ICC Men’s ODI rankings by dethroning Pakistan following their dominant show in opposition to South Africa within the 2nd ODI of the three-match ODI sequence, beating them by 123 runs.

“Most of them are family. It is always nice, a bit of added pressure. It is nice to be scoring some runs in front of friends and family. I still think I left a few runs out there, thought I could have opened up and taken us to 430. But as the game does, it leaves you wanting more. You have got to be content. I was happy with how we got about it. We got to a great start with the bat and put pressure on them straight away. WC spot is one of those things that is not in my control at all. My thing is just enjoying playing cricket,” mentioned the Australian batter in a post-match presentation.

“Like I said to Shamsi, ‘If I go home, I get to see my daughter; if I go to the World Cup, I will get to play a World Cup for Australia,’ so my job is to keep well,” added Labuschagne.

Since Labuschagne was denied a WC spot because of his lacklustre ODI performances since 2022, the batter has made a well timed assertion ever since he wore the yellow colors once more as a concussion substitute for Cameron Green within the first ODI in opposition to Proteas.

With a gutsy 80* in 93 balls in a tough state of affairs in that match and now a century, Labuschagne has made his intentions clear, that he desires to be a critical white-ball participant as effectively, whose spot in any huge event shouldn’t be questioned.

He has received ‘Player of the Match’ awards in each matches and is the main run-scorer within the sequence with 204 runs.

Labuschagne additionally introduced up his 1,000 ODI runs. In 32 ODIs and 30 innings, he has scored 1,051 runs at a median of 37.53 and a SR of 86.85, with two centuries and 7 fifties. This 12 months in 4 innings, he has scored 247 ODI runs at a median of over 82.33, with one century and a fifty.

Coming to the match, South Africa opted to discipline first. Australia placed on a gap partnership of 109 runs between Warner and Head (64 in 36 balls, with 9 fours and three sixes).

Then knocks from Marnus Labuschagne (124 in 99 balls with 19 fours and one six) and Josh Inglis (50 in 37 balls with seven fours and a six) helped Australia attain 392/8 in 50 overs, which is their third-highest ODI whole, with the second-best rating being 417/6 in opposition to Afghanistan (2015) and 434/4 in opposition to South Africa (2006) being their finest rating.

Tabraiz Shamsi (4/61) was the decide of the bowlers for SA. Kagiso Rabada took two wickets whereas Marco Jansen, Andile Phehlukwayo took a wicket every.

In the chase of 393, SA bought off to a promising begin with Quinton de Kock (45 in 30 balls with six fours and two sixes) and skipper Temba Bavuma (46 in 40 balls with 4 boundaries and three sixes) stitching an 81-run opening stand.

After that SA sunk to 119/4. Then a 58-run partnership between Heinrich Klaasen (49 in 36 balls with three fours and three sixes) and David Miller (49 in 52 balls with six fours) and 64-run stand between Miller and Marco Jansen (23) took SA close to 250 runs, however they may not present sufficient battle and bundled out for 269 in 41.5 overs.

Adam Zampa (4/48) was the decide of the bowlers for Australia. Sean Abbott, Nathan Ellis and Aaron Hardie bought two wickets every.

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