Australia tour of South Africa, 2023: The World Test Champions Australia resumed their T20 campaign with an effortless 111-run win against South Africa in Kingsmead, Durban.
Australia who are on a 3 T20I and 5 ODI match tour of South Africa are playing their first competitive series after the recent thrilling Ashes Test series which took place in England and concluded on July 27.
South Africa was playing their first competitive tournament after the ODI series against the Netherlands in which they registered a couple of convincing wins against the Dutch side.
Both Australia and South Africa have rested their experienced campaigners for the upcoming ODI series, in a build-up to the ICC Cricket World Cup in India in the month of October.
Australia skipper Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell are not part of the team for various reasons.
South Africa's experienced campaigners Quinton de Kock, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada have all been rested for the T20 series.
Aus vs SA 1st T20 Highlights
Mitchell Marsh led an all-new-looking Australian T20 team that featured four new debutants - Spencer Johnson, Matt Short, Tanveer Sangha and Aaron Hardie.
After winning the toss and opting to bowl first, South Africa made early inroads by removing Travis Head in the first over itself. But Matthew Short and captain Marsh strung a blitzkrieg partnership which saw the Australian side race to 69-1 in just 4.4 overs. Lizaad Williams got the much-needed breakthrough for SA and got rid of Short, which was then followed by quick wickets of Inglis and Stoinis who fell cheaply taking Australia from 69-1 to 77-4 in just a couple of overs.
What followed after that was a complete on-slaught by captain Marsh and middle order hard-hitter Tim David who put on a 97-run stand in just 50 balls, with the latter scoring the bulk of the runs. Debutant Hardie played a nice cameo to support Mitchell Marsh and ensured Australia put on a score of 226-6 in their allotted 20 overs. Marsh ended up playing a true captain's innings by scoring 92 runs in just 49 balls in his first game as an Australian T20 captain.
Just like Australia's innings began, South Africa also lost a wicket in the first over in the form of Temba Bavuma. SA did try to stabilise the innings with Reeza Hendricks taking the charge and scoring the bulk of the runs in a fast-paced inning, he was ably supported by Rassie van der Dussen for a brief period but SA lost the plot as soon as debutant Tanveer Sangha took the ball in his hand.
He ran through the South African middle-order and scalped the key wickets of captain Markram, Brevis and Stubbs to reduce SA to a score of 69-5 in 8.4 overs. SA could not recover from this bowling onslaught and were soon bundled out for 115 runs in 15.3 overs with Stoinis grabbing 3 wickets and debutants Spencer taking a couple and Sangha a 4-fer to round-off a complete victory for the Aussies.
SA vs AUS 2nd T20 Match Date and Time
The 2nd match of the T20I series between Australia and South Africa will take place on Friday, September 1 at 9:30 pm IST.
Where To Watch Australia vs South Africa 2nd T20I match on TV
Fans in India can watch live action of the AUS vs SA, 2nd T20 match on Star Sports 2 TV channel.
Australia vs South Africa 2nd T20I Live Streaming Details
The AUS vs SA, 2nd T20I match will be streamed live on the FanCode app and website.
South Africa vs Australia T20 H2H Record
Games played: 23
Australia won: 15
South Africa won: 8
The last time these two teams met (prior to the first T20) was in a T20 international match in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup which took place on October 23, 2021.
Australia won that game by five wickets with two balls remaining.
South Africa vs Australia T20 Squads
Australia T20 Squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Jason Behrendorff, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Matt Short, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa
South Africa T20 Squad: Aiden Markram (c), Temba Bavuma, Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis, Gerald Coetzee, Donovan Ferreira, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jensen, Sisanda Magala, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, Lizaad Williams, Rassie Van Der Dussen
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