Australia’s Travis Head accounted for a bizarre yet brilliant run out of South Africa’s Prenelan Subrayen in the 1st ODI between the two teams at Cairns. In the 49th over, Head was bowling to Wiaan Mulder with Subrayen at the non-striker’s end.
In the last ball of the over, Mulder stepped out down the track and hit a shot right back at Head who managed to flick the ball back onto the stumps at the non-striker’s end with his hand. Subrayen who had his bat in the air when the bails lit up, had no choice but to return back to the dug out.
Head finished his spell with 4 wickets even as South Africa managed to post a formidable 296/8 in their allotted 50 overs. “I don’t know,” said Head when he was asked if he knew he would be bowling so much in the match. “It was probably in the bingo card this morning, the wicket was a bit slow and they perhaps needed my spin. Looks like a slow wicket, so the batting PP will be the time to score, me and Mitch must start well, the older ball could be a bit tougher to score runs, need to build partnerships and chase this score down,” he added.
OH MY GOODNESS HOW HAS TRAVIS HEAD DONE THAT! @BKTtires | #PlayoftheDay | #AUSvSA pic.twitter.com/gEMxOp3dYd
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) August 19, 2025
Rabada ruled out
Earlier, pace bowler Kagiso Rabada was ruled out with an ankle injury in a major setback for South Africa just as the three-game ODI series got underway against Australia on Tuesday.
The Australians, coming off a 2-1 win in the T20 series, won the toss and elected to field in Cairns to start the one-day international portion of the tour.
This is the first ODI between the teams since Australia beat South Africa in the 2023 World Cup semifinals. Their scheduled Champions Trophy meeting in March was washed out.
The 30-year-old Rabada underwent scans on Monday which confirmed inflammation in his right ankle. Rabada will stay with the team in Australia and undergo rehabilitation.
Kewena Maphaka, who finished as the leading wicket-taker in last week’s T20 series, replaced Rabada in the squad but was left out of the playing XI for the first ODI.
