Aussies start with scrappy win against South Africa

Australia were made to fight for victory in the opening clash of the T20 World Cup Super 12 stage as they overcame South Africa in a low-scoring contest at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi yesterday.

They did the first part well to restrict their opponents to 118-9. And despite losing their way towards the end of the chase, Australia sealed a five-wicket win with a couple deliveries to spare.

Steve Smith (35) and Glen Maxwell (18) shared a 42-run stand for the fourth wicket before Marcus Stoinis (24) and Matthew Wade (15) took them over the line with an unbeaten 40-run partnership for the sixth wicket.

Having elected to field first, the Australian attack bowled consistently throughout the innings to keep a lid on South Africa’s scoring.

“I think length was the key, hitting the right length, just on top of the stumps,” Josh Hazlewood said. “Anything slightly short or fuller seemed easy. The wicket seamed reasonably good, but it was a little bit slow.”

“It plays that way during the day and gets easier at night. It sort of got close in the end but we’ve got finishers and we were confident in them.”

Australia, in reply, were 38-3 in the eighth over after captain Aaron Finch, David Warner and Mitchell Marsh fell in quick succession. “The dugout was probably a bit more relaxed than I was,” Finch said of the win. “Stoinis and Wade kept their cool there. It’s what experience can do. Maxwell did a really good job. In the end we needed a bit of luck to go our way and we got it.”

“We want to talk about us being resilient, big effort by the guys getting it to the last over,” Temba Bavuma said. “With the bat – that was definitely not according to plan. Good effort by the bowlers to get it to that stage.”