Australia displayed yet another dominant performance to take a 2-0 lead over South Africa in the five-match ODI series.
The road to the 2023 Cricket World Cup continues to look dim for South Africa. Having suffered a whitewash in the T20I series last week, the Proteas have started the ODI series on the back foot with two consecutive losses at the Mangaung Oval.
On Saturday night, the Australians wrapped up a 123 run victory over South Africa, thanks to yet another batting masterclass from Labuschagne.
Having scored a match-winning, unbeaten half ton on Thursday night as a concussion substitute, Labuschagne top-scored with 124 off 99.
With David Warner (106 off 93) alongside him, they combined for a 151-run stand, a second century stand of the innings for the visitors.
The first one came between the opening duo of Warner and Travis Head (64 off 36) to help the visitors set a steep 393 runs target to mark what was a tough day out in the park for the South African bowlers.
Tabraiz Shamsi was by far the pick of the bowlers as he returned figures of 4/61 in his ten over spell while Rabada was second best with 2/79 at an expensive rate of almost nine runs an over.
With a stable foundation set by the batters, the Australian bowlers turned up and delivered a clean bowling performance where they bowled South Africa out for 269 runs with over eight overs to spare.
Apart from the 81-run stand between Temba Bavuma (46 off 40) and Quinton de Kock (45 off 30), the South African batters struggled to put together partnerships.
The most disappointing factor was that Heinrich Klaasen (49 off 36) and David Miller (49 off 52) had starts just like the two openers, but failed to convert their starts into big scores which was what was needed chasing 393 to win.
Adam Zampa (4/48), Nathan Ellis (2/32), Sean Abbott (2/50) and Aaron Hardie (2/62) were all in the wickets to help Australia register a fifth successive victory since the tour started.
South Africa have three more ODIs remaining in the series to turn things around and ensure they travel to India for the World Cup with momentum on their side.
The third ODI will be played in Potchefstroom on Tuesday.
Scorecard
Australia 392-8 in 50 overs (M. Labuschagne 124, D. Warner 106, T. Head 64, J. Inglis 50; T. Shamsi 4-61)
South Africa 269 in 41.5 overs (H. Klaasen 49, D. Miller 49, T. Bavuma 46, Q. de Kock 45; A. Zampa 4-48).
IOL Sport