First Twenty20 international, Johannesburg:
South Africa 168-6 (19.2 overs) beat Australia 166-7 (20 overs) by four wickets
Match scorecard
 Albie Morkel hit two sixes as he turned the match South Africa's way |
Big hitting by Albie Morkel and Mark Boucher propelled South Africa to a narrow win over Australia in the first of their two Twenty20 internationals. David Hussey had been Australia's star, smashing five fours and six sixes as his 88 not out came off only 44 balls. But Robin Peterson's disciplined spin frustrated the rest of the upper order as Australia posted a total of 166-7. The hosts were flagging at 83-5 but Morkel (37) and Boucher (36 not out) saw them home with four balls to spare. Jonas Botha, standing in for injured skipper Graeme Smith, sent the tourists into bat on a lively Centurion track and was rewarded with early success when teenager Wayne Parnell splayed Michael Clarke's stumps.  | 606: DEBATE |
Captain Ricky Ponting sent a towering catch to Morkel off Botha nine balls later but Hussey and David Warner (38) added 54 before left-arm spinner Peterson (3-30) claimed three wickets in one over. Warner gave Peterson a low return catch, Mike Hussey was run out without scoring off the next ball and Brad Haddin holed out in the deep for a duck to leave the Aussies on 71-5 with 10 overs remaining. But despite his brother's failure, David Hussey dominated the strike, crashing the ball to all parts of the Bullring with a brutal innings that drove the tourists to an unexpectedly healthy finish.  Hussey achieved a career-highest Twenty20 score with an unbeaten 88 |
Herschelle Gibbs began the reply in ominous form, lofting a huge six off a hapless opening over from Shane Harwood, before lifting a slower first ball from Brett Geeves to Ponting at extra cover. Local favourite AB de Villiers was then bowled by Geeves while Hashim Amla played all around a straight one from David Hussey. JP Duminy was then beaten heaving across the line to a slower ball from James Hopes and Vaughn van Jaarsveld failed to dig out Hussey's yorker to leave the hosts reeling. But Morkel duly took on the responsibility of replicating Hussey's batting heroics, sending a pair of beautifully-timed sixes sailing into the crowd on his way to 37 off 19 balls. After Morkel was undone mistiming Johnson's cutter, Boucher saw his side home in style with fours from the first two balls of the final over from Geeves. "I thought we played at about 80% of our ability," admitted Botha. "This victory will give us good momentum for the second match on Sunday [at Centurion] as well as the approaching ODI series. "There is always room for improvement and we will probably also try a few other tactical variations in Sunday's game."
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