The Australians pulled off an important five-wicket victory over South Africa at the start of the Super 12 stage at this year’s edition of the T20 World Cup in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
The Australia national team weren’t always happily placed chasing a paltry 119-run target but ultimately managed to reach home with two balls left in the innings. Having restricted South Africa to only 118/9 in the first half, the team from Down Under lost their top order quite cheaply to be 38/3 at one stage but the middle and lower order came to their rescue when the game hung on a knife’s edge.
The Aussies lost captain and opening batter Aaron Finch without him opening his account. Finch’s partner David Warner, who has been going through an extended rough patch in his career, played a couple of encouraging strokes at the beginning. But he hauled out inside the circle for 14.
Mitchell Marsh, who had a great opportunity to showcase his suitability to No.3 for a T20 World Cup played in Asian conditions, inspired little to no confidence whilst he was there. He eventually perished for a 17-ball 11.
A poor beginning threatened to bring South Africa back in the contest, but this is when Steve Smith showed off his class. Smith, like Warner, hasn’t been going through the best phase of his career. But the modern-day giant displayed fantastic ability against spin through the middle-overs.
Smith’s measured knock of 35 off 34 balls helped keep Australia afloat at a time when Proteas spin twins Keshav Maharaj (1/23) and Tabraiz Shamsi (1/22) were slowly but surely piling on the pressure with their control and consistency.
Smith had a capable partner in Glenn Maxwell, who may have only made 18 off the 21 balls he faced. But through his intimidating presence and unorthodox strokeplay, he manipulated the field cleverly and made Smith’s and Australia’s task a bit easier.
There was a brief phase when Smith and Maxwell fell in quick succession that South Africa looked like favourites for the first time in the game. But, again, Australia had capable men to take them through. Marcus Stoinis (24*) and Matthew Wade (15*) played two vital knocks near the end to keep the Proteas at bay and secure a win for their team.
Ultimately a poor first half came back to haunt the South Africans, who failed miserably against some fine bowling from Josh Hazlewood (2/19) and spinners Adam Zampa (2/21) and Maxwell (1/24). Aiden Markram, with a nicely compiled 40 off 36, was their lone ranger with the bat.
Surprisingly, despite Markram’s fantastic form, South Africa didn’t send him up the order to try and set the right tone for the innings. Maybe the idea was to plug the middle-order gap. But lack of batters in solid form and rhythm at the top meant that they slipped to 23/3 and never really recovered from that.
In the first half, apart from the bowling of Hazlewood, Zampa and Maxwell, Australia would’ve been pleased to see Pat Cummins bowling in decent rhythm after an elongated gap. Since March, the lead pacer had not played any cricket but finished with figures of only 1/17 off his 4 overs. The other of Australia’s main quicks Mitchell Starc (2/32) proved a touch expensive, but overall, the Aussies will be really happy with their outing with the ball in Abu Dhabi.
Brief scores
South Africa 118/9 in 20 overs (Markram 40, Rabada 19*; Hazlewood 2/19, Zampa 2/21) lost to Australia 121/5 in 19.4 overs (Smith 35, Stoinis 24*; Nortje 2/21, Shamsi 1/22) by 5 wickets
