Speedster Chris Morris claimed two key wickets as South Africa strangled Australia to a 21-run victory in their rain-reduced Twenty20 international on the Gold Coast on Saturday. The South Africans easily protected their 108 for six total off 10 overs to restrict Australia to 87 for seven with Morris the star of the Proteas bowling attack.
Morris claimed the wickets of D'Arcy Short for a first-ball duck and Chris Lynn for 14 in his opening over to trigger a wicket slide. The Australians fell away from 21 for one after two overs to be 60 for six upon the dismissal of Alex Carey for eight in the seventh over with Lungi Ngidi (2-16) and Andile Phehlukwayo (2-21) also among the wickets.
"The bowlers once again stepped up and produced the goods. Picking up wickets in this format is always important because T20 is all about slogging," skipper Faf du Plessis said.South Africa also downed Australia 2-1 in the one-day series preceding the one-off T20 international.
Glenn Maxwell was Australia's topscorer with 38 off 23 balls with two sixes but was guilty of moving around the wicket and missing hittable deliveries as the pressure mounted on the home side. In the end the difference was the execution of the powerplays. South Africa smashed 42 runs, losing just the one wicket, while Australia could manage only 27, and lost their top three batsmen.
Earlier Andrew Tye and Nathan Coulter-Nile claimed two wickets each as South Africa reached 108 for six after being sent into bat. The match was reduced to 10 overs a side after heavy rain prevented a scheduled start. The T20 is the start of four matches for Australia over the next week with three internationals against India.
SCOREBOARD
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South Africa
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Q. de Kock st Carey b Maxwell 22
R. Hendricks c McDermott b Coulter-Nile 19
F. du Plessis c Maxwell b Stanlake 27
H. Klaasen c Maxwell b Coulter-Nile 12
D. Miller c Short b Tye 11
C. Morris c Carey b Tye 0
Farhaan Behardien not out 3
Andile Phehlukwayo not out 2
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Extras: (lb7, nb1, w4) 12
Total: (6 wkts; 10 overs) 108
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Did not bat: Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi.
Fall of wickets: 1-42 (Hendricks), 2-61 (de Kock), 3-84 (du Plessis), 4-99 (Klaasen), 5-104 (Miller), 6-106 (Morris)
Bowling: Behrendorff 1-0-15-0, Stanlake 2-0-23-1 (2w), Coulter-Nile 2-0-19-2, Maxwell 2-0-14-1, Short 1-0-12-0, Tye 2-0-18-2 (1w, 1nb)
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Australia (target 109)
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A. Finch b Ngidi 7
C. Lynn b Morris 14
D. Short c Phehlukwayo b Morris 0
G. Maxwell c Behardien b Ngidi 38
M. Stoinis c sub (Markram) b Phehlukwayo 5
B. McDermott c de Kock b Phehlukwayo 4
A. Carey c Klaasen b Shamsi 8
N. Coulter-Nile not out 2
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Extras: (lb5, w4) 9
Total: (7 wkts; 10 overs) 87
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