Rusty Proteas overwhelmed by clear thinking Australians

The rust and cobwebs of a longer than normal winter for the Proteas were clearly evident in a chastening start to the season against Australia in Durban on Wednesday night. 

Mitchell Marsh’s men were much sharper and played with greater assertiveness in a 111-run victory, in which they were the dominant team from start to finish. It was the largest margin of defeat by runs that SA have suffered in a T20 International

The tourists finished with 226/6 in their innings after being put into bat against a South African team which was ragged in the field, and dreadfully inconsistent, with the ball, lacking both control and a clear game-plan. They then bowled the hosts out for 115 in the 16th over.

The Australians got stuck in early, as they exploded out of the blocks, with one of their four debutants, Matthew Short and skipper Marsh pulverising the wayward Proteas bowling in the Power Play. 

Australia’s 50 came up in the fourth over and despite Gerald Coetzee, who along with Dewald Brevis, made his T20 International debut for SA, bowling a 'wicket-maiden' in the sixth over, the tourists still finished the Power Play on 70/3, hitting eight fours and four sixes in that period.

That foundation allowed Marsh and Tim David to absorb the only bit of pressure the home team’s bowlers were able to create when they picked up three wickets for eight runs in 13 balls to reduce Australia to 77/4 at the end of the seventh over. 

Once David settled, he and Marsh overwhelmed the Proteas with devastating shotmaking, in a partnership of 97 that came off 50 balls. The Proteas’s ground fielding was well below the standard they would demand of themselves, with mis-fields costing them a handful of boundaries. 

The sole highlight in the field was a fine diving catch by Temba Bavuma to dismiss David for 68, an innings in which the Singapore-born right hander smashed seven fours and four sixes, off only 28 balls. 

Marsh continued to punish the Proteas in the latter stages of the innings and eventually finished 92 not out, in which he struck 13 fours and two sixes. Although Lizaad Williams picked up 3/44, SA’s bowling was well below the required standard, with the waywardness of line and length allied to strategy that lacked clarity with too many slower balls a feature. 

With a required rate of more than 11 an over, the Proteas needed a good start but didn’t get it losing Bavuma in the first over to a sharp in-ducker from Marcus Stoinis.

Only Reeza Hendricks offered any resistance scoring 56 off 43 balls, his 14th T20 international 50, and his seventh in his last nine innings for the Proteas. 

In contrast to the hosts, the Australians were clear with their gameplans, targeting the stumps and forgoing the slower balls. Stoinis was outstanding finishing with 3/18, while a week in which Brevis' immenent international debut dominated headlines, it was Australia's 20 year old leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha, who made the biggest impression among the rookies, by picking up 4/31, with Brevis' one of those wickets. 

The second T20 International will be played on Friday.