Despite a solid 71 from Ryan Rickelton and best figures of 4-20 from Kwena Maphaka, the Proteas couldn’t hold off Australia’s fightback, led by Tim David’s explosive knock.
It was a lovely evening in the North of Australia for the first game of the 3 match T20 series between Australia and South Africa.
South Africa won the toss and elected to field first.
It’s been 17 years since Marrara Oval hosted an international match, so the lack of information on the ground played a big part in Markram’s decision at the toss.
The Proteas started brilliantly; they had the hosts 6 down after the first 10 overs, and it looked like they were going to restrict the Aussies to a very low score.
However, Tim David had other plans. He smashed an impressive 83 from 52 balls, hitting fours 4’s and eight 6’s. Australia were all out for 178. This was the first time South Africa had bowled Australia out in a T20I.
Kwena Maphakha bowled incredibly, taking 4-20. This is now his best figures in T20I’s. The other wicketkeepers were Kagiso Rabada 2-29, Lungi Ngidi 1-34, Senuran Muthusamy 1-24 and George Linde 1-26.
South Africa needed 179 to win.
It was fairly even after the first 10 overs. The Proteas were 78-3, still needing 101 runs from 60 balls. Both teams had a good chance to win the game.
South Africa were looking solid at the crease with Stubbs and Rickelton.
Josh Hazelwood eventually got the breakthrough, nicking off Stubbs in the 14th over and ending his partnership with Rickelton, which saw them get 72 runs from 52 balls.
The wicket of Stubbs seemed to have brought more wickets with it, as many South African players fell shortly afterwards.
By the end of the 16th over, South Africa were 7 down, needing 56 runs from 24 balls.
Ryan Rickelton showed great resilience fighting right until the end, but unfortunately, he couldn’t get it done.
Rickelton scored 71 from 55 balls.
The standout bowlers for Australia were Josh Hazelwood 3-27 and Ben Dwarshuis 3-26.
Australia won by 17 runs.
South Africa will take positives from Kwena Maphaka’s impressive bowling spell, which led to a new career-best spell, but they’ll know this was a game that they should have won.
