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The Report by Brydon Coverdale
October 13, 2011
Australia 147 for 5 (Watson 52) beat South Africa 146 for 7 (Duminy 67, Cummins 3-25) by 5 wickets
A powerful half-century from Shane Watson helped Australia make an encouraging start to their tour of South Africa as they won the opening Twenty20 in Cape Town by five wickets. The teenage debutant Patrick Cummins collected three wickets as South Africa reached 146 for 7, led by a solid innings from JP Duminy, and the target wasn't enough to prevent Australia from turning around their recent poor T20 form.
Australia got home with three balls to spare, after they needed six from the final over, bowled by Rusty Theron. Steven Smith brought up the win with a square drive for four followed by a single through the leg side.
Full report to follow
20 overs South Africa 146 for 7 (Duminy 67, Cummins 3-25) v Australia
A solid half-century from JP Duminy gave South Africa hope of victory in the first match of the series, but their bowlers will need to fire to keep Australia's powerful top order from chasing down the target. Australia need 147 to win, and while it appeared a gettable target, they have only twice chased down bigger totals to win T20 internationals.
Their task could have been more difficult but for a triple-wicket over in the 19th of the innings from the debutant fast bowler Patrick Cummins. At 18, Cummins became Australia's second-youngest debutant of all time in any format, but he showed plenty of poise to finish with 3 for 25 from his four overs.
He collected the important wicket of Duminy, who on 67 failed to negotiate the slower ball from Cummins and skied a catch to Shane Watson at cover. Cummins was soon on a hat-trick when he had David Miller (20) caught at long-off trying to clear the rope, and while the hat-trick ball was clipped for four through square leg by Johan Botha, Cummins struck again later in the over.
Again it was the slower ball that worked for Cummins, who had Botha caught at cover, and when Watson bowled Robin Peterson in the final over, Australia's bowlers had done well to keep the target from ballooning. Earlier, Duminy had spent some time getting himself in, and was soon striking the ball cleanly and finding the middle of the bat.
He welcomed the left-arm spinner Steve O'Keefe with a six over long-on first ball, and took to the offerings of another of Australia's debutants, James Pattinson, who ended up with 1 for 32. Pattinson's final over leaked 19 runs as Duminy crunched him for a four through midwicket and then launched a pair of sixes over midwicket and deep cover. Duminy had support from two of the newer members of South Africa's batting order, in a 58-run partnership with Colin Ingram that was followed by a 65-run stand with Miller.
Miller had come to the crease after the departure of Ingram for 33 off 28 deliveries, when he was deceived by the slower ball from Pattinson and lofted the ball to Cummins at deep cover. Ingram had scored at a decent rate, driving square through point when given width and clipping through leg when the bowlers overcorrected.
He lifted David Hussey over long-on for six, just clearing the rope when David Warner jumped and got a hand to the ball but failed to cling on to what would have been a brilliant catch. Warner had already done something wonderful in the field, with an excellent throw from the deep having caught the stand-in captain Hashim Amla short for 4.
Amla was coming back for a third run but couldn't beat the accurate throw from Warner, who had run back at deep midwicket to save the boundary. Another of Australia's four debutants, the wicketkeeper Matthew Wade, collected Warner's return and whipped the bails off quickly to leave South Africa in trouble at 10 for 2 in the third over.
Their problems had started in the first over when Graeme Smith looked rusty in South Africa's first international match since the World Cup in March. No runs came off the bat in the first over, which ended with Smith dragging the ball on from well outside off to hand Doug Bollinger, remarkably playing his first T20 international, his first wicket in the format.
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