Venue : The Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
Toss : South Africa won the toss and opt to bowl
Squad
South Africa | Playing : Quinton de Kock (c & wk), Rassie van der Dussen, Faf du Plessis, JJ Smuts, David Miller, Pite van Biljon, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi
Bench : Heinrich Klaasen, Dwaine Pretorius, Anrich Nortje, Bjorn Fortuin
Australia | Playing : Aaron Finch (c), David Warner, Steven Smith, Matthew Wade, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa
Bench : D Arcy Short, Sean Abbott, Jhye Richardson
Aggressive start by Aussies
Warner and Finch are at the crease,Warner is on strike. Steyn opens the attack. Warner without any fear strike the Steyn’s first ball to boundary. In the very next ball Steyn got his revenge by an extra bounce ball that dismissed Warner. After Warner’s wicket everyone expect Australia will play a steady game but in spite Finch move the next ball towards boundary. Steven Smith join hands with the captain Finch and start to strike aggressively. Though Rabada bowled at 147 kph Australian strikers shows no fear and continued to strike as-usual. At the end of power play Australia scored 70 runs for one wicket and placed them-self in safe zone.
Shamsi’s spin
South Africa badly need a wicket and changed their plan by introducing the spinners. Shamsi has been introduced and without any failure he done his job by uprooting the Aussies captain’s wicket. The 80 run partner-ship has been broken as Finch lose his wicket for 42 runs. At the end of 10 over Aussies scored 99 runs for two wicket lose.
Slower balls done their duty
Matthew Wade(left handed) comes to crease and join hands with Smith. This partnership didn’t last long as Steyn picks Wade’s wicket by a slower ball. In the very next over Smith lose his wicket to Shamsi’s spin ball. Alex Carey and Mitchell Marsh joins hand and provided the required partnership though Rabadda get back in attack with his 140+ kph this duo scored 16 runs of that over. They added up sum of 50 runs in total and moves the score forward. As Carey lose his wicket to Phehlukwayo’s slower ball the partnership got broken as expected by South Africa. Though Australia lose 2 more wickets they manage to score a total of 196 runs-that’s huge.
Struggled South Africa
With a massive target of 197 to chase down de Kock and van der Dussen enters the ground de Kock is on strike as Starc opens the bowling attack. South Africa got stunned when their captain de Kock who is in glorious form return pavilion after scoring just 2 runs. South Africa’s former captain Faf du Plessis shows some of his skills and keep South Africa to score as needed. Proteas failed to build a partnership as van der Dussen lose his wicket to Cummins when he scored just 6 runs. Smuts who expected to join hands with du Plessis and lead the South Africa also failed and return pavilion for just 7 runs.
The swing, the pace, the look on his face… Proteas skipper Quinton de Kock copped an absolutely unplayable seed from Mitch Starc! #SAvAUS #starc pic.twitter.com/TCMFTMEuFJ
— News Cricket (@NewsCorpCricket) February 22, 2020
Agar’s hat-trick
In the very next over Zampa too lose his wicket and returns pavilion with a score of 2. South Africa just scored 42 runs for 4 wicket at the end of power play. South Africa’s winning dream get scatters when their only hope du Plessis lose his wicket to Agar while scoring 24 off 22 balls. Agar gained a hat-trick as he uproot the wicket of Phehlukwayo and Dale Steyn in the very next balls and script a history as he is the first bowler to take a T20I hat-trick against South Africa.
South Africa lose its every hope and expect for some miracle to happen as they scored only 44 runs for losing seven wickets. Agar almost got an second hat-trick when he picked Pite van Biljon and Ngidi’s wicket. In the 14th over Zampa got the Rabada’s wicket and fold up South Africa for 89 runs and registered their win with a massive difference of 107 runs.
Stats after this match
Biggest defeats for SA in T20Is (runs):
107 runs v AUS Johannesburg 2020*
95 runs v AUS Brisbane 2006
95 runs v PAK Centurion 2013
52 runs v AUS Melbourne 2009
Best bowling figures vs SA in T20Is:
5/6 Umar Gul Centurion 2013
5/19 Ahsan Malik Chattogram 2014
5/24 Bhuvneshwar Kumar Johannesburg 2018
5/24 Ashton Agar Johannesburg 2020*
Best bowling figures for Australia in T20Is:
5/24 Ashton Agar v SA Johannesburg 2020*
5/27 James Faulkner v PAK Mohali 2016
Lowest totals for South Africa In T20Is:
89 v Australia Johannesburg 2020*
98 v Sri Lanka Colombo 2018
100 v Pakistan Centurion 2013
Player of the match
Ashton Agar (Australia)
Bowling : 5 wickets for 24 runs in 4 four.
Agar states : It was really exciting; a highlight of my cricketing life. It was made easy by Starc, Cummins and Richardson bowling in front of me. Starc, at 150 clicks, induces fear in the opposition. I was feeling horrible at the start of the game. But with a bit of turn off the pitch your job becomes easy. Terrific catch by the skipper, he enjoyed it himself.
Captains view
Aaron Finch | Australia’s skipper: The way we set the tone on the field was fantastic. Ashton gets the credit today; the lengths he bowled was fantastic. When you are scoring 200 the start is very important. I would have batted second as well had I won the toss, so a nice toss to lose. I thought the way we attacked the crease and the lengths we bowled was fantastic. If someone blasts a good ball off you, you take your hat off to them. I had a 10% chance of catching that (hat-trick ball) but he deserves all the credit.
Quinton de Kock | South Africa’s skipper: I am not quite sure what happened here. The energy was there but the skills just weren’t enough. Obviously we try and pride ourselves with our fielding and we weren’t at our best today. There isn’t much you can do at practice, it has to be a mental thing for the boys. We hope to come back with that fight on Sunday.
