SA vs AUS 1st ODI: South Africa made a great start to the domestic season by defeating Australia by 67 runs in the first ODI played at the Kingsmead ground in Durban. An amazing comeback was seen from South Africa in this match. Chasing the target of 298 runs, the Australian team had at one time scored 156 runs for 4 wickets in 22 overs and had complete control over the match in terms of run rate. But after this, South African spin bowlers Keshav Maharaj and Bjorn Fortuin tightened the screws and broke the back of Kangaroo batting. Due to which the entire Australian team was reduced to 230 runs in 41.2 overs.
Matthew Britzke played a century innings
Batting first in the match, South Africa did not have a good start and the team lost the wickets of Quinton de Kock-Tony de Georgi early. After this, captain Temba Bavuma scored 30 runs in 48 balls and Ryan Rickelton adopted an aggressive stance and hit some fours, but due to the dismissal of both, the team lost 5 wickets for 168 runs. After this, Matthew Britzke and Marco Janson, who came to the crease, changed the course of the match by making a century partnership of 107 runs.
Matthew Britzke played a brilliant inning of 112 runs, while Marco Janson’s brilliant inning of 75 runs helped the team score a strong score of 297 runs after losing 8 wickets in 50 overs. During this, South Africa scored 54 runs in the last 5 overs, which proved important in the match.
Mitchell Marsh’s stormy fifty, then Australian collapse
In response to the target of 298 runs, Australia captain Mitchell Marsh started in an explosive manner. Marsh scored 60 runs in just 36 balls at a strike rate of 166.66, hitting 5 fours and 6 sixes. At the same time, Travis Head maintained the run pace by scoring 36 runs on 37 balls and Cooper Connolly scored 38 runs on 42 balls. At one time Australia’s score in 22 overs was 156 runs at the loss of 4 wickets. But as soon as Connolly and Marsh were out, the team collapsed like a house of cards. Australia lost its last 7 wickets in just 74 runs and the entire team was all out after scoring 230 runs.
The script of South Africa’s comeback was written by spinner Keshav Maharaj. Maharaj spent only 20 runs in 9.2 overs, bowling 2 maidens and showing the way to the pavilion to 4 important batsmen. He dismissed captain Mitchell Marsh, Cameron Green, Jack Edwards and finally Adam Zampa. At the same time, Bjorn Fortuin took 2 wickets for 34 runs in 8 overs. Apart from these, Corbin Bosch took 2 wickets, Marco Janson and Gerald Coetzee took 1 wicket each.