The start of the South African summer international cricket season was marked by a five-wicket loss at the hands of arch-rivals Australia in the first of two T20 Internationals at Newlands Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
After winning the toss, the Proteas posted South Africa 146 for seven in their 20-overs.
In reply, Australia chased down the 147 they needed for victory, for the loss of five wickets with three balls to spare.
Hashim Amla who captained the Proteas in the absence of the injured AB De Villiers said afterwards that the team will be taking positives out of the match.
“It’s never nice to lose a match but I could see a lot of positives for the team,” said Amla.
“At stage we put a few good spells together at the back end and that brought us back into the game [during the Australian innings].
“The selectors would have been glad to see the performances of [fringe batters] of Ingram and Miller who batted well. I thought JP again showed what a talent he is. Some of shots were unbelievable.
“I’m not saying it as an excuse [for defeat] but I thought there were signs of rust. Unfortunately, we didn’t take an early catch but that could happen to any one. It happened at a time when we needed to kick in, especially after we ran out [David] Warner.”
The Proteas could not have hoped for a better start at the start of the Aussie chase.
David Warner, the Aussie opener has been in prolific form with back-to-back tons at the recent Champions League, but after facing only one delivery he was brilliantly run out short-leg by Morné Morkel .
Shane Watson and Shaun Marsh rebuilt the innings with a second-wicket stand of 82 to lay the platform for a match winning reply.
They maintained a run-rate of just under 10 runs to the over and when they lost their wickets in successive overs, the Proteas must have felt they were back in the game.
Shane Watson went for 52, which included six fours and two sixes and Shaun Marsh went for 25 of the bowling of Morkel and Johan Botha respectively.
Cameron White and David Hussey were left with the task of guiding the visitors to the target although the Proteas attack managed to dry up the boundaries, without slowing down the run-rate significantly.
As a result, the required run-rate never passed the six-run-an-over mark.
In the 17th over, spinner Robin Peterson had White caught by David Miller and the Aussies were reduced to 127 for four, but the contest ended on a tame note after Hussey departed in the penultimate over.
Steven Smith on eight and Matthew Wade on one saw the Aussies home.
Earlier, South Africa made a poor start to the innings as both openers Graeme Smith (0) and captain Hashim Amla (4) fell cheaply.
Smith dragged on a Doug Bollinger delivery off the final ball of the opening over.
Two overs later Amla was brilliantly run out after David Warner fielded Colin Ingram’s big hit to the long-on boundary. Aussie wickie Matthew Wade gathered Warner’s throw from the deep smartly to run out Amla as the South Africans tried to scramble a third run.
With the Proteas innings reeling at 10 for two after three overs Ingram and the incoming JP Duminy needed to do a rescue job and they were up to the task with a third-wicket stand of 58.
Ingram was first to perish but his 28-all knock produced 33 valuable runs and thanks to his efforts the innings passed the 6-run-a-over mark after he clobbering four boundaries, one of which cleared the ropes.
His partner Duminy went on to top-score with 67 off only 53-balls. He cracked three sixes and twice as many fours and enjoyed splendid support from David Miller who found conditions to his liking during his 19-ball stay.
Aussie paceman Patrick Cummins saw Duminy off with a well-disguised slower delivery, which was caught by Shane Watson at cover.
Cummins’ next ball earned him another wicket as Miller’ lofted drive to ended in a catch at long-off for Warner in the second last over, with the score at 133 for five.
The Duminy-Miller partnership proved to the most prolific in the SA innings yielding 65 runs off 6.4 overs and took the score from 68 for three to 133 for four.
However, the spotlight fell on Cummins at that stage because after he bagged the scalps of Duminy and Miller with successive balls, he sent Johan Botha packing two balls later as Cameron White held on to a catch in the covers.
Cummins proved to be the pick of the visitors attack with three for 25. — Sapa