Proteas claim comfortable win
South Africa produced a brilliant display in the field as they cruised to a 17 run victory over Australia in the second T20 international at Centurion.
Needing 157 runs for victory, Australia would have fancied their chances, but some economical bowling and stunning fielding helped South Africa to an easy win.
A furious display of hitting from Man of the Match Roelof van der Merwe propelled South Africa to a competitive, albeit hardly intimidating, total of 156-5 from their 20 overs.
The hosts seemed set for a modest total having being pegged back to 96-4 after 15 overs, but Van der Merwe, in his maiden T20 international appearance, changed the course of the innings with a series of wild swings that had his home fans at Centurion in raptures.
The Australian bowlers put the shackles on South Africa bowling with a good variation of speed and length. Shane Harwood was the pick of the Australian bowlers with figures of 2-21 off his four overs.
In response Australia got off to a solid start before two quick wickets from Albie Morkel and Yusuf Abdulla swung things back in the hosts’ favour. The required run rate started to climb steadily as South Africa, in particular skipper Johan Botha, began to tighten the screws with some clever bowling.
In the end the visitors could only muster 139-8 off their 20 overs as the Proteas won by 17 runs to claim a 2-0 series win.
For a full scorecard click here.
South Africa – 156-5
Robin Peterson 34, Roelof van der Merwe 48, Shane Harwood 2-21.
Australia – 139-8
Michael Clarke 27, Johan Botha 2-17, Johann Louw 2-36.
March 29th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Hope the Protea Janne do well !
March 29th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
Good luck Proteas. Punter won the toss and will bowl first.
March 29th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
T20 Dragjan?
We had many Jan’s in drag…
Send in Albie.
March 29th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Well done Proteas on the 2nd 20/20 win. Good bowling and batting. With a very young side.
Now for the odi’s
March 29th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
If ever one needed proof that this T20 stuff is largely irrelevant, here it is.
We win the series – against arch-enemies Australia – 2-0 and bloggers are so excited, so delighted that they managed just 23 posts following the Wanderers victory and four (well, five with this) after the series clincher at Centurion.
Enjoyment it might well be, but in the world of cricket, it’s play-play stuff, of little relevance.
March 30th, 2009 at 1:17 am
#5 Joe Maher: One of the great classic posts on Keo. Nice one.
March 30th, 2009 at 9:00 am
#5 Joe Maher: It is not so much about the winning as it is about the momentum going into the ODI’s fella.
March 30th, 2009 at 9:20 am
#5 Joe Maher: Joe, Test cricket will always be the most exciting for me and a lot of others to watch, but not everyone feels that way Joe.
T20 is a bit of fun but its here to stay. Its fun for the whole family thats why its so popular and brings in more money than any other form of cricket. Just look at the Wanderers on Fri and Centurion yesterday. 20 000 people at both stadiums. Test cricket never get that amount of people going to watch. Only this summer did we have good attendance at the tests. Mainly because we won the series in Oz.
Our domestic T20 or as its called here pro20 got full stadiums almost all the time. So you can call it play, play but its the cricket that most people watch and go to see.
March 30th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
#5 Joe Maher: THEN DONT WATCH IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
March 31st, 2009 at 12:53 am
#9 Golden Boy:
I don’t.
But whether I do or not has absolutely zero to do with my assertion that its relevance/irrelevance can be based on the disinterest displayed by bloggers.
Your point?