South Africa pacer Lungi Ngidi has disclosed the secret of South Africa’s recent success. The Protea side performed exceptionally in recent months. South Africa defeated Australia in the World Test Championship
(WTC) 2025 final played at iconic Lord’s in June and now, they have beaten Australia in the first two One Day Internationals (ODI), to take an unassailable lead in the three match series. Ngidi has played a vital role in the Protea team’s success. In the WTC final, he took three wickets in the second innings and made his team’s task easy against the Aussies. In the current 50-over series, he came heavily on Australia in the second ODI played in Queensland, picking up 5/42 figures in his 8.4-over spell.
Following South Africa’s win in the second ODI, Lungi Ngidi revealed that the secret of his team’s success is that they play as per their identity to pull off positive results. "The most important thing is how we played. Are we playing our brand of cricket? Are we playing the way we want to play? When we lose and we're not playing our way or with the freedom that the coach has given us, then it's a problem. But when we execute and we play the way we want to play, that's the beautiful thing," said Nigidi.
"It's pretty much about giving you the freedom to bowl what you want to bowl. We've been playing international cricket for a couple of years now, so we kind of know what we're good at and what we need to do," remarked Lungi Ngidi about his and team's strength on the field.
South Africa will look to whitewash Australia 3-0 by winning in the third ODI
South Africa will endeavour to win the third ODI and whitewash the hosts 3-0 in the series. If that happens, the Protea side will not only record their third series win against the Aussies down under in the 50-over format but also succeed in whitewashing the Men In Yellow for the first time in the longest format of white-ball cricket.
Australia, on the other hand, will play for pride to avoid humiliation. In the couple of matches, the hosts’ batting unit lacked discipline which resulted in their crushing defeats. After the retirement of Steven Smith and Glenn Maxwell from ODIs, Australia are playing their first series and it seems like they are struggling during the transition period.
