The big news: Australia lose despite Warner heroics

South Africa beat Australia by 32 runs to win the fifth One-Day International at Cape Town on Wednesday. South Africa won the toss and decided to bat first with Rilee Rossouw hitting 122 runs to take the Proteas to 327/8 in 50 overs. Rossouw shared a 178-run fourth-wicket stand with JP Duminy (73) to leave Australia with yet another huge target to chase down.

David Warner was at his sublime best as he hit 173, but the innings was not enough to take the Australians to victory as South Africa beat them yet again to complete the 5-0 whitewash. The loss was Australia’s first ever 5-0 bilateral series defeat after they were bowled out for 296.

Both sides will clash again in November when South Africa visit Australia for three Tests starting on November 3, including a day/night game in Adelaide.

Other top stories

  1. England won the third ODI against Bangladesh by four wickets and stopped the Tigers' tremendous run on home soil, which saw them defeat Pakistan, India and South Africa in limited overs in the past 18 months. Bangladesh made a total of 277/6 and England chased the target down with 13 balls and four wickets remaining. Sam Billings, Ben Duckett and Ben Stokes playing crucial roles in powering their side to 2-1 series win.
  2. Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin reclaimed the No. 1 spot in the International Cricket Council's Player Rankings for Test bowlers after picking up 27 wickets during the New Zealand series at home. Ashwin is followed by South Africa’s Dale Steyn and England's James Anderson to complete the top three.
  3. Pakistan are set to play their 400th Test match in history when they take on Pakistan with the pink ball in Dubai on Thursday. With Pakistan second in the Test rankings, the "home" team will fancy their chances against the West Indies after a clean sweep in both the T20 series and ODI series. West Indies recently lost their last Test series 2-0 to India at home.
  4. West Indies players Kieron Pollard and Denesh Ramdin have been dropped from the ODI squad for next month's tri-series in Zimbabwe, which also features Sri Lanka. The head of West Indies' selection committee, Courtney Browne, informed Pollard and Ramdin about their axing via email.
  5. After Ravichandran Ashwin's heroics against New Zealand, former Indian off-spinner EAS Prasanna said that the 30-year-old will need to prove himself abroad. Prasanna told NDTV that the Ashwin's performance in overseas conditions will now be the real test of his credentials. 
  6. The International Cricket Council is set to name Board of Control for Cricket in India President Anurag Thakur as the chairman of its development committee, the Times of India reported. Thakur's inclusion would also make him eligible to represent India in three other ICC committees, which are governance review, finance commercial and audit. Thakur can accept the post without having to lose his BCCI presidency.
  7. The Mumbai Ranji team will take on Baroda in their second encounter of the tournament after beating Tamil Nadu last week. The match will take place at Palam Ground in New Delhi as Shardul Thakur and Shreyas Iyer return for Mumbai on Thursday. Thakur missed the first match owing to his selection in the Test squad as Iyer was recovering from an injury. 
  8. The other Ranji Trophy matches starting today are: Bengal vs Uttar Pradesh in Jaipur, Madhya Pradesh vs Punjab in Rohtak, Railways vs Tamil Nadu in Bilaspur, Assam vs Rajasthan in Visakhapatnam, Jharkhand vs Karnataka in Greater Noida, Odisha vs Saurashtra in Hyderabad, Andhra vs Chhattisgarh in West Bengal, Delhi vs Maharashtra in Mumbai, Goa vs Jammu and Kashmir in Surat, Haryana vs Hyderabad in Jameshedpur, Kerala vs Himachal Pradesh in Kolkata, Services vs Tripura in Guwahati.