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Home » What A Game! Aussies Beat SA to Draw on “Cracking Day” in Joburg

What A Game! Aussies Beat SA to Draw on “Cracking Day” in Joburg

They may be competitors, and South Africa may have lost to Australia today, but the atmosphere was electric and the enjoyment of the epic cricket match palpable from both teams, with the crowd going crazy for the exceptional play. As cricket.com.au tweeted afterwards: “Aussies win a thriller”. It was a sunny day for the second […]

By SAPeople
06-03-16 19:29
in Sport
Cricket pool

They may be competitors, and South Africa may have lost to Australia today, but the atmosphere was electric and the enjoyment of the epic cricket match palpable from both teams, with the crowd going crazy for the exceptional play.

As cricket.com.au tweeted afterwards: “Aussies win a thriller”. It was a sunny day for the second KFC International at Bidvest Wanderers Stadium on what they described as a “cracking day in Johannesburg”.

Australian cricketers David Warner and Glenn Maxwell shared the fourth highest partnership in the history of T20 International cricket to set Australia up for a last-ball, five-wicket victory over South Africa’s Oxigen Proteas.

Cricket South Africa tweeted: “What a game, Australia win by 5 wickets to level the series [1-1]. The decider in Cape Town [at PPC Newlands] on Wednesday is going to be INSANE! Don’t miss out. ‪#‎SAvAUS‬.”

Warner (77 off 40 balls, 6 fours and 5 sixes) and Maxwell (75 off 43 balls, 7 fours and 3 sixes) shared a partnership of 161 which was Australia’s highest ever and also the highest ever for the fourth wicket and the highest for any wicket at the Wanderers. This came after the Proteas had struck three early blows in the power play to reduce Australia to 36/3 in pursuit of a target of 205.

Both Dale Steyn and Kagiso Rabada bowled well during the power play with the latter also taking an incredible acrobatic catch to dismiss Australian captain Steve Smith.

Warner, who was named KFC Man of the Match, and Maxwell then launched a thrilling counter-attack that saw Imran Tahir and David Wiese concede a combined total of 105 runs from their eight overs.

As always in these matches the contest came down to fine margins with Chris Morris bowling a no ball and two wides in his last over and Rabada two wides in his last over when he almost managed to defend a target of 11 runs and force a super over.

Australia’s total was the third highest winning total batting second at the Wanderers, being only surpassed by the West Indies 236/6 against the Proteas in 2015 and the Proteas 208/2 against the West Indies in 2008.

The Proteas, who were put into bat, owed their total in the main to Faf du Plessis’ 79 off 41 balls (5 fours and 5 sixes) although there were good supporting roles from Quinton de Kock (44 off 28 balls, 8 fours and a six) and David Miller (33 off 18 balls, 2 fours and 2 sixes).

James Faulkner was another major contributor to Australia’s triumph with figures of 3/28 in his 4 overs.

The Australian bowlers were generally more disciplined than their South African counterparts, conceding 3 wides and 1 no ball, compared with the South Africans’ 8 wides and 2 no balls.

This was Australia’s first Twenty20 International win since 9 November 2014 (versus South Africa in Sydney).

As one of many tweeted: “even though Australia won… we still got fire burning. #ProteaFire still one more match… you can do it BOYS @OfficialCSA #support

Source: Cricket.co.za

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