Thu, 13 Oct 2011 - South Africa vs Australia, Australia Tour of South Africa 2011-12,1st T20I(Bullet

Watson stars as Australia win tour opener

Australia got their South African tour off to a winning start beating home team comfortably by five wickets in the first of the two twenty-20 international series. After its bowlers did well to restrict South Africa to 146, Shane Watson powered the chase with a 39-ball 52 to have target rounded off with three balls to spare. Shaun Marsh, David Hussey and skipper Cameron White all played supporting acts ensuring the target was achieved without any major drama. The victory should give the touring side a boost and edge for their future assignments for they, literally, outplayed the hosts in all three games. South Africa would feel they were some 15 to 20 runs short and things could have been a little different had they held on to the catches in the field.

Chasing a victory target of 147, Australia, like their opponents, lost an early wicket. The South African fans were denied any David Warner show as left handed opener couldn’t beat a direct through from short-fine at the non-striker’s ended. Warner went without troubling scorers but his partner did unveil his wide range of strokes to take attack to South African bowlers. Not before a offering a chance , though. Graeme Smith spilled an easy catch at first slip off Morne Morkel’s bowling when Watson had scored only one run.

Watson started with pummel the bowling by unleashing his trademark pull strokes and hard hitting cover drives. Boundaries kept coming thick and fast inside powerplay overs as Shaun Marsh ceded the floor to his senior colleague. Rusty Theron was carted for three consecutive fours off last three balls of powerplay and introduction of spinners didn’t matter. Watson dumped Robin Peterson dumped into log-on stands for a six before Marsh joined the party. The stylish left hander cut and pulled Peterson for two fours and beautiful drive off Johan Botha earned him a four.

Watson was not all power mixing his thumping strokes with some delicate touches as well. He reached his fifty off 34th ball but didn’t score many after the mini-milestone. It was Morkel who had Watson caught at covers for 52 with half a dozen fours and two fours ending a match stand of 82. Marsh didn’t last long after Watson’s exit bottom edging Botha’s quicker one on to his stumps. He departed for a 19-ball 25.

The double strike might have given the home team a sniff but Hussey and White had other ideas. A 40-run stand between the skipper and Hussey punctured African hopes as the duo went about their business giving a good exhibition sensible batting. Big strokes were mixed with singles and doubles to steer the team forward.

White was dismissed by Peterson for more than run a ball 28 with the help of a six and four but Hussey kept going. The right hander slammed a monstrous straight six off Lonwabo Tsotsobe before snared by the same bowler to add some drama to the finish. The Aussies needed six off final over bowled by very expensive Theron but a boundary off his second ball from Steve Smith’s blade sealed the proceedings in Australia’s favour.

Earlier, Hashim Amla called correct at the toss in his captaincy debut but didn’t do much with the bat. After former skipper Smith was castled for a six-ball duck by Doug Bollinger, Amla was run-out last ball of the third over as the hosts were in trouble with score reading 10 for loss of the both openers.

Young batsman Ingram and Duminy did the rearguard act. It was Ingram who took the aggressor’s role hitting boundaries every now and then. Duminy took his time before getting big shots away. Ingram greeted left arm spinner Steve O’Keefe with a big sixes over long on after he had played some fine strokes off fast bowlers.

The pair put 58 for the second wicket before Ingram James Pattinson gave his side a breakthrough. Ingram was holed out in the deep for a well played 33 off 28 including three fours and a six.

Post Ingram departure, Duminy took the centerstage. With run rate hovering below six runs-an- over, the left hander started to look form big shots and succeeded in his endeavour. The key to his success was he picked up his areas every so effectively. His job was made easier by another young left hander David Miller who made sure boundaries kept coming from other end as well. A quickfire 65 runs were added by the duo with Duminy scoring most of them. The left handed pair too the score past 130 before Duminy’s 53-ball 67 laced with half a dozen fours and three sixes ended in the 19th over. New kid on the block and young paceman Patrick Cummins demonstrated his skills to snare three wickets in the over when the charge was on. Duminy was followed by Ingram next ball and Botha was dismissed last ball of the over after denying hitting the hattrick ball for a leg side four. The visitors finally ended on 146/7 in their allotted twenty overs.

Cummins and his new ball partner Bollinger were both impressive with the ball with their combined eight overs going for only 48 and yielding four wickets. Watson, who had stated some reservation about his bowling workload, bowled his full quota of four overs that conceded only 26.