MICHAEL Clarke says his side’s effort in winning their one-day international series in South Africa shows they are heading in the right direction. With the best-of-three match series locked at 1-1 heading into Friday’s decider in Durban, once again it was old-stager Michael Hussey who helped drag the Australians over the line, with the 36-year-old unbeaten on 45 off 64 balls.
Hussey cracked the winning runs with a massive pull for six, guiding the Australians to 7-227 in reply to the South African knock of 6-222, sealing a three-wicket win for the tourists.
The victory means Clarke is unbeaten in one Test and three ODI series since taking over as Australian skipper, and he said the win was just reward for all the hard work his side had done.
“Tonight’s another strong indication we’re working our backsides off to try and get better every day and we’re playing well as a team,” Clarke said.
“There’s a long way to go, there’s going to be plenty of challenges that lie ahead, plenty of ups and downs and if we can keep sticking together as a team and playing well I think we’ll continue to improve.”
Clarke said his side’s strong performances in the limited overs matches would give his men a boost heading into the first of two Test matches against the Proteas, beginning November 9 in Cape Town.
“I can guarantee we’ll take some confidence out of tonight and out of this one-day series leading into the first Test,” he said.
“I think the Tests will be as close as the one-day series.”
“They have got a lot of very good players, a lot of experience and they are probably hoping that AB de Villiers is fit and comes back.”
“We’re certainly looking forward to a very tough, hard-fought series.”