Days after Pakistan had displaced them from the top spot in the Men’s ODI Team Rankings, Australia reclaimed their pole position with a win in the second ODI against South Africa in Bloemfontein on Saturday (September 9).

While Australia won the first ODI by three wickets, they thrashed South Africa by 123 runs in the second game.

Invited to bat first, the visitors rode on centuries from Marnus Labuschagne (124 off 99) and David Warner (106 off 93) to pile up 392/8 in their allotted 50 overs.

In reply, South Africa’s innings folded for 269 in 41.5 overs. While the likes of Heinrich Klaasen (49), David Miller (49), Temba Bavuma (46) and Quinton de Kock (45) got starts, they failed to play a big knock and take the hosts over the line.

Leg-spinner Adam Zampa was the star with the ball for Australia, returning with the figures of 4 for 48 in his 9 overs.

With this victory, Australia reached 121 points on the ICC Men’s ODI Team Rankings points table. This puts them one ahead of Pakistan, who are on 120. India occupy the third position with 114 rating points.

Australia, the five-time World Cup winners, have been exceptional in the 50-over format lately.

In the 2022 season, they lost a closely-fought series against Sri Lanka away from home but followed that with a 3-0 drubbing of New Zealand at home.

In November 2022, they whitewashed England 3-0 at home and then went on to beat India in India in March 2023.

With back-to-back wins against South Africa in Bloemfontein, Australia have taken a 2-0 lead in the five-match ODI series.

(With ICC Inputs)