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Perth: Australia were on Friday dethroned as the number one team in One-dayers by South Africa who demolished the hosts by 39 runs in the fifth and final match to clinch the ODI series with an emphatic 4-1 margin.
South Africa's near-perfect tour began with a Test win in Perth and fittingly it finished with a one-day triumph at the same venue as Australia conceded the No. 1 ranking to Johan Botha's men. JP Duminy, Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers, all of whom contributed to the Test successes, finished the trip strongly and the debutant Lonwabo Tsotsobe picked up four wickets to give the tourists one more happy story to recount on the flight home.
The ODI series triumph follows South Africa's 2-1 win in the Test series and though Australia remain the number one team in the longer version of the game, the Proteas return home with the new-found tag of being the top team in One-dayers.
A very happy South African unit gets together on the dais to collect the Commonwealth Bank Trophy. Champagnes flying all over the place, smiling faces all around, all conveying one thing, that they are here to rule. Kudos to this bunch of cricketers who have dislodged the Aussies from the Number One spot (which was considered to be their home for a long long time).
Albie Morkel is the Man of the Series. He is very proud to be a part of this winning unit, he says that they worked really hard over a long period to achieve this and finally it has bore fruits is something very tasteful and exciting. He is happy with his string of performances and hopes that he keeps on playing good cricket for his side.
Hashim Amla is the Man of the Match. He is happy that he has contributed nicely to his side's performance all throughout this period, he is glad to be amongst the runs. And he concludes saying that getting these runs against the Australians means a lot more special.
Earlier, Hashim Amla 97 (117b, 6x4, 1x6) and AB de Villiers 60 (71b, 4x4) steadied South Africa with a 118-run stand and then JP Duminy 60* (42b, 3x4, 3x6) provided the late burst as South Africa posted 288 for six wickets.
The final result meant that, should South Africa win the Test series that begins in Johannesburg on February 26, they will be the world's No. 1-ranked one-day and Test teams. The positives for Australia in the lead-up to that series are few, even though they could regain their No.1 ranking by beating New Zealand next week.
Brief Score: South Africa 6 for 288 (Amla 97, Duminy 60*, de Villiers 60, Hopes 3-44) beat Australia 249 (M Hussey 78, Haddin 63, Tsotsobe 4-50) by 39 runs.
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