Mitchell Marsh Equals Steve Waugh's Tally With Another 50 vs SA

Mitchell Marsh scored 56(42) vs SA in 3rd ODI [Source: X]

Mitchell Marsh continued his blockbuster form against South Africa in the ongoing ODI series, racking up his third fifty on Wednesday. With this, he gave Australia a good start in Potchefstroom, looking to salvage something in the series.

The Aussies have already lost the series after losing the first two matches, but stand-in skipper Marsh has stepped up in all three. He has now joined the legendary Steve Waugh in a special record with a 42-ball-56 on the afternoon.

Mitchell Marsh equals Steve Waugh's record

In the third and final ODI between Australia and the Proteas, Mitchell Marsh led the team again, while Pat Cummins looked to focus on the Test series. Potchefstroom has been a good venue to chase a target, and South Africa asked the visitors to bat, looking to clean-sweep the ODIs.

Having scored 60 and 84 in Durban and Johannesburg, the 34-year-old continued his form and gave his team yet another good start. Marsh completed his third fifty of the series in just 33 balls and subsequently got out to Bjorn Fortuin after a well-made 56(42) with 8 fours and two sixes.

With this fourth consecutive fifty against them, Marsh levelled Steve Waugh's record of most consecutive fifty-plus scores against South Africa. No other Australian has scored more back-to-back fifty-plus scores against the Proteas previously.

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Mitchell Marsh's ODI record against South Africa

(Mitchell Marsh in last four ODI innings vs South Africa)

(Mitchell Marsh's ODI record vs South Africa)

As mentioned above, Marsh has now scored four consecutive fifty-plus scores against the opposition. This fifty streak began in the 2025 home series against South Africa in Mackay when Marsh scored his first and, to date, his only ODI century against SA.

If we dig deeper, he also scored 88 (96) in the first ODI of the home series in 2025 as well. This means he has now scored fifty or more in five of the last six innings against South Africa.

Beyond this, he has often been among the run-scorers whenever he has faced the Proteas in the format. After 30 innings, he has now reached 1000 runs against them at a strike rate of 99.10, becoming the 7th Aussie to do so. Only David Warner (1255 runs at SR of 102.95) has more runs at a better strike rate.

Marsh's ballistic knock gives Australia a head start

Historically, the Potchefstroom has not been a very high-scoring venue in the 23-year history of ODIs. The average first innings score has been 266.50 in 21 matches. So, as ODIs return to the venue for the first time in three years, Marsh's start has given a significant head start to the visitors.

Before being trapped LBW on 56, he took the team to 94 runs in just 13.1 overs. This will now help the middle-order and the finishers to take them past a par score and potentially salvage a win before heading into the Tests.

At the time of writing, they have scored 130/3 in 19 overs, with a scoring rate of 6.84 runs per over.

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