The Australian Cricket captain, Steve Smith must be wondering where to from now after his team were handed another defeat during the 4th ODI test against the Proteas at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth yesterday.

The Proteas rang in four changes from the squad that clinched the series on Wednesday, with Kyle Abbott, Aaron Phangiso, Tabraiz Shamsi and Farhaan Behardien replacing Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada, Imran Tahir and David Miller. Miller, the star of Wednesday’s game, was ruled out with a groin injury.

The Aussies only made one change with Scott Boland replacing Daniel Worrall.

The Aussies won the toss and elected to bat first and despite it being a chilly and blustery day in Port Elizabeth, the wicket still appeared to favour the batsmen.

The visitors were soon in deep trouble when Kyle Abbott cleaned bowled Aaron Finch (2) and David Warner (6), followed by Dwaine Pretorius trapping George Bailey lbw (1). Steve Smith started steadying the ship, but in the 14th over, both he and Travis Head lost their wickets and the Aussies found themselves on 49/5.

Mitchell Marsh and Matthew Wade managed to spare the Aussies from an embarrassingly low total with their 62 run partnership. Marsh was eventually out for 50 and Wade, who chanced his arm once too often, scored 52.

The Proteas bowled the Aussies out for 167 in 36.4 overs. Kyle Abbott with 4-40, Tabraiz Shamsi with 3-36 and Aaron Phangiso with 2-17 faired the best of the Proteas bowlers.

The Proteas were put into bat and had to face 7 overs before lunch. They too were soon in trouble after Chris Tremain got the wickets of Hashim Amla (4) and Quinton De Kock (18) and at lunch, were 32/2.

Faf Du Plessis played a captain’s innings and set the tone for another Proteas victory, before losing his wicket for 69 runs. JP Duminy (25) and Rilee Rossouw (not out on 33), helped steer the Proteas home to a 168/4 victory.

The St George’s Park band had the last say with their “Bye Bye Aussies” song, which even put a smile on George Bailey’s face.

The final ODI will be played this Wednesday in Cape Town. A sellout crowd is expected and if the Proteas can get a clean sweep, their tails will certainly be in the air when they jet off to Australia for a three match test series in November.