NEWS
Follow UsSouth Africa fast bowler Anrich Nortje has been ruled out of the third One-Day International (ODI) against Australia in Potchefstroom on Tuesday (September 12) due to back spasms, Cricket South Africa (CSA) have confirmed. However, they did not confirm if the pacer will be fit to play the fourth and fifth games of the series on September 15 (Centurion) and September 17 (Johannesburg), respectively.
Nortje sent down just five overs in the second ODI in Bloemfontein on Saturday (September 9) before walking off the field due to discomfort. However, he did come out to bat during the chase, scoring 10 off 13 before being cleaned by Sean Abbott as his team went down by 123 runs.
"Need to put this behind quickly, need to take feedback on the areas we need to improve on. Got a couple of days to improve and come back strong in the next game to keep the series alive," South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma said after the second ODI, where his team was tasked with a daunting 393-run target.
South Africa have lost all five games on this tour so far. The Mitchell Marsh-led side have been at their dominant best throughout, completing a 3-0 clean sweep in the T20 International (T20I) series and are currently 2-0 up in the ongoing five-match ODI series as well. Another win for the Aussies will see them clinch their first bilateral ODI series win over South Africa since 2016.
The Proteas have picked Nortje for the upcoming ODI World Cup, where he will lead the pace attack with Kagiso Rabada. They begin their World Cup campaign against Sri Lanka in Delhi on October 7. However, they do play a couple of warm-up games - against Afghanistan (September 29) and New Zealand (October 2) - both at Thiruvananthapuram before the mega event.
