Cairns (Queensland), Aug 19 (UNI) Keshav Maharaj has devastated Australia with a spell from the top shelf as South Africa took the honours in the first BKT Tyres ODI here today.
The 35-year-old spinner turned back the clock under lights at Cazalys Stadium, taking five wickets in 26 balls to cripple the Aussies’ chase of 297.
A rearguard innings of 88 from home captain Mitch Marsh gave Australia hope but after falling to 6-89 the task proved too great, eventually falling short by 98 runs.
After choosing to chase at the toss, Marsh and partner Travis Head had Australia’s innings off to a great start reaching 0-60 from seven overs.
Head, who earlier took four wickets and executed a run out, smacked five fours in a single Nandre Burger over to set the tone in front of the vocal crowd.
But spin was introduced from both ends inside the Powerplay and the move by Proteas skipper Temba Bevuma was decisive.
Thirty-one-year-old first-gamer Prenelan Subrayen had Head stumped after the left-handed batter came down the pitch and missed with his lusty swipe.
That opened the door for Maharaj, who bowled as if he was operating on the dust bowls of Mumbai rather than a true, bouncy wicket in northern Queensland.
With his first ball of the night he trapped Marnus Labuschagne (one off six) lbw, pitching the ball on leg and spinning it back sharply to miss Labuschagne’s bat.
His around-the-wicket angle did for Cameron Green (three off eight) too, delivering a top-class off-break that spun past Green’s angled bat and clipped the outside of the off stump.
Australia’s two wicketkeepers, Josh Inglis and Alex Carey, fell in consecutive balls to the wily tweaker as Marsh looked on perplexed from the non-striker’s end.
Inglis completely misjudged the length and was bowled playing back to a full ball while Carey attempted a paddle sweep from his first ball but was struck on the foot and given out lbw.
While Maharaj’s earlier wickets drew animated celebration, his fifth brought only a look to the sky and a smile.
There was a tinge of embarrassment at how easily he was picking up wickets, and he had completed his first five-wicket haul in the format in fewer than five overs.
He removed Aaron Hardie for his milestone wicket in a similar vein to Green a few overs earlier; the tall West Australian lunged forward and lost his off stump.
Australia had slumped to 6-89 having lost six wickets for 29 runs in a devastating 10-over stretch.
Maharaj, who earlier in the week expressed his desire to force his way back into the T20 team after being left out of SA’s XI, finished with 5-33 from his 10 overs.
Marsh finally found a partner in Ben Dwarshuis (33) and the duo put on 71 to resurrect the innings somewhat.
The skipper ticked past his half-century in 51 balls and hit 10 boundaries to ensure Australia continued to cling on in the contest.
But Burger, playing his first match of the tour, landed a couple of hammer blows, removing both Dwarhshuis and then Marsh with short balls.
Earlier, South Africa didn’t seem to be complaining when they were inserted on a true Cairns wicket, making batting look easy on the warm afternoon.
Aiden Markram was untroubled in his innings of 82 from 81 balls and along with opening partner Ryan Rickelton (33 off 43) the visitors had 92 on the board before the loss of the first wicket.
Travis Head was the fifth bowler introduced into the attack and immediately looked the most threatening bowler – having an lbw overturned and a tough catch dropped off the bat of Rickelton.
The off-spinner got a deserved wicket when it was third time lucky against Rickelton, caught by Marnus Labuschagne at mid-off.
The first mistake Markram made was trying to guide Dwarshuis to third, only to edge the ball to wicket keeper Inglis.
ODI squad inclusions Bavuma and Matthew Breetzke both batted beautifully and together helped SA reach 2-223 in the 40th over.
Third-gamer Breetzke, who has started his ODI career with scores of 150 and 83, punched out a run-a-ball fifty which included some gorgeous shots to both sides of the wicket.
The call to bring Head back into the attack in the 41st over appeared to be a match-ups call against new batter Tristan Stubbs.
Stubbs had just come to the crease after the wicket of Breetzke and proceeded to smoke the first ball of the over to Green at wide long off.
It was Head’s second wicket of the innings and brought debutant Dewald Brevis to the crease.
The flamboyant 22-year-old was in no mood to get his eye in, smashing the first ball of his ODI career for six straight down the ground.
Sensing Brevis wanted to repeat the dose, Head slowed up the following delivery to only 74kph. Unfazed by hitting into the wind, Brevis took the bait and fell into the trap, as Carey held the catch just inside the rope in front of the RSL club.
South Africa had lost 3-7 but crucially didn’t lose momentum, Wiaan Mulder was able to rotate the strike while captain Bavuma reached his half-century off 64 balls and begun to up the ante.
The pair put on 36 in five overs before Bavuma (64 off 74) chopped on an attempted big heave in the 46th over.
Head was surprisingly brought back into the attack in the penultimate over and the gamble paid off handsomely.
He captured his fourth wicket of the innings as Maharaj holed out in identical fashion to Stubbs and then executed a sleight-of-hand run out to send back non-striker Prenelan Subrayen.
Head appeared to deliberately manoeuvre the ball onto the stumps in his follow through with the SA spinner’s bat over the line but not grounded.
Mulder popped the final ball of the innings over the rope to lift the Proteas to 8-296, a total they would have felt a little underwhelmed with having been sitting pretty on 3-223 with 10 overs to go.
Brief score:
South Africa: 296/8
Australia: 198
