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Australia need 219 to win
Huge score for Australia to chase, but their team is set up to chase huge scores, and Travis Head has started off a lot of 200-plus innings in the IPL. Different conditions and all that, but the numbers won’t daunt them. If their approach works as planned, it’ll handle 200-plus easily. But early wickets tonight should be curtains. A fun few overs coming up…
Tim David will bat, by the way, though he didn’t field after that fall.
20th over: South Africa 218-7 (Brevis 125) Last over, and an extra fielder inside the circle because Australia didn’t bowl their overs in time. No turning over strike from Rabada, he just belts Abbott over mid off for four. Misses the next ball but Brevis runs the bye, and way too easily. That’s dreadful keeping from Carey. Brevis hared off for the bye the previous ball when that boundary was hit, so he’d clearly shown his intentions. Carey should have had a glove off ready to ping the stumps. Instead he just underarms at half intensity, wearing both keeping gloves, and misses. Now Brevis has strike with four balls to hit.
Two more runs slapped down the ground, then a wide as Abbott tries to hide the ball outside off. Another miscue by Brevis, down the ground, they’re always taking two, and Maxwell would probably have run out Rabada had he picked up cleanly. It wouldn’t have made much difference though, with Brevis still on strike. Two to come, though he misses the high slower bouncer. It’s a dot ball, until it isn’t, because he’s overstepped! Extra run, and now a free hit. Brevis clonks it though, down the ground to Maxwell, one run.
Rabada will face the last ball. And Brevis runs the bye! Carey throws faster and flatter this time but misses the striker’s end, and hits the non-striker’s end! Was he aiming for that? Must have been. Rabada is run out, South Africa don’t get the run, but Brevis remains 125 not out.
19th over: South Africa 206-6 (Brevis 120, Rabada 1) There’s one answer to the fizzle, and that’s to get Brevis on strike. Bowler and umpire both flinch out of the way as Brevis nails a straight drive for four, then edges another boundary over his head. That’s the highest T20 score for South Africa, going past Faf. Hazlewood concedes 10 from the over, and 1 for 56 tonight.
WICKET! Bosch b Hazlewood 0, SA 198-6
Bowled by a full toss! You don’t see that too often. Not the worst ball from Hazlewood though, it was at least fast and dipping slightly. Bosch is set up to slow to leg, and so the ball coming in on the line of his gloves and dipping isn’t what he’s expecting. Hacks across the line and misses. South Africa fizzling near the end after that brilliant middle.
18th over: South Africa 196-5 (Brevis 111, Bosch 0) Things got quiet all of a sudden in that over. Brevis couldn’t do anything: played a strange jumping pull shot and missed out completely, scuffed an aerial drive that landed safely for two, then pinged the sweeper for one. Rassie got out after that. So, three from the over.
WICKET! van der Dussen c Abbott b Dwarshuis 5, SA 196-5
Some small relief for Australia at the other end! Rassie holes out to deep cover, a good running catch by Abbott coming around the rope, and close to it.
17th over: South Africa 193-4 (Brevis 108, van der Dussen 5) Absurd shot from Brevis. Zampa lands it as wide as it can legally be, out on the blue touch paper, and Brevis doesn’t move out there, just reaches out there, but whips his wrists to hit it straight past the bowler, beating long on. That’s another level of quality. Zampa ends the over poorly too, overpitches to Rassie van der Dussen, who cover drives for four. Zampa 1 for 46 from his four, on an expensive night.
WICKET! Stubbs c sub (Kuhnemann b Zampa 31, SA 183-4
Stubbs has looked like Rickelton did on Sunday, unable to time anything convincingly all night, and finally goes trying to force the pace. Opens up his front leg to aim a booming pull shot at Zampa over midwicket, and the miscue ends up spinning to backward point. It went nowhere for all the power in that swing. But he did the job of feeding Brevis when it mattered.
16th over: South Africa 179-3 (Brevis 103, Stubbs 27) Four to the floor now, Stubbs is going for it, though he’s not quite nailing them. Gets one shot away, a strange scoop attempt – he ends up getting a full toss, so adjusts the shot while kneeling and popping it straight over the keeper’s head. His other big swings don’t reach the rope, but he gets some lucky doubles and takes a dozen from the over.
Century! Brevis 102 from 41
15th over: South Africa 167-3 (Brevis 102, Stubbs 17) Looked a decent yorker from Dwarshuis, and Brevis drives it straight for four! Almost underground when he dug that out, very low full toss dipping, and he gets no power on the shot but the placement is perfect. Dwarshuis goes back to length but offers width, poor bowlers, and Brevis carves four. Guides a run to short third, he’s on 98. Stubbs does the right thing and gives back the strike… and Brevis raises his ton with a pull behind square. That’s the second-fastest T20 ton by a South African, and he’s their youngest to get one at 22 years old.
He’s a bit lost in the moment as he tries to ramp his next ball and is hit on the body while spinning a 360, but it doesn’t cost him the next few overs.
14th over: South Africa 152-3 (Brevis 89, Stubbs 16) One of the biggest hitters in the world, Tristan Stubbs, is just taking singles tonight to feed Brevis the strike. And why not? He backs away and hits an Exocet cut shot for four! Abbott was flying out there in an effort to intercept, but too much pace on that ball. Gets off strike to follow, and Stubbs plays over the top of Zampa’s leg break, but it’s wide of the stumps. Still, Zampa lets off the pressure last ball of the over, a low full toss that Stubbs can knock straight with no difficulty for four.
13th over: South Africa 141-3 (Brevis 84, Stubbs 11) Brevis is flying now! Getting some luck but he’s using it. Nutmegs himself from Hazlewood’s first ball, four through fine leg. Gets a fat full toss outside off and carves it through cover, but only gets two there. Adds another four with a top-edged pull. And after all of that, he crushes the last ball of the over: short, with rolled fingers, but pulled with a crisp thwack into the crowd. He’s 84 off 34.
Half century! Brevis 50 from 25 balls
12th over: South Africa 123-3 (Brevis 67, Stubbs 10) First ball of the over for Brevis, at any rate, goes for six again! And raises his fifty in double time. Wide outside off to hide the ball, Brevis gets the toe of the bat to it with a powerful slog, kneeling, and gets it straight. Next ball, six more! Full toss, trying to bowl a variation, and that goes over midwicket as a full toss should do. Three times in a row… Brevis is dropped. Second drop off Maxwell tonight. He’s steaming. It’s Kuhnemann the sub fielder who puts it down. Hit down towards long on, he’s in too far off the rope, has to jump for it AFL style, and palms it over his head for four. So Brevis gives a prayer of thanks for his luck, and whacks the next one over long on for six!
24 from the over, ruins Maxwell’s figures for the night by making them 2 for 44, when they should at least have been 3 for somewhat less.
11th over: South Africa 99-3 (Brevis 44, Stubbs 9) First ball of the over again, Brevis goes for it! Risky one, doesn’t entirely get it clean, but drags Zampa over the rope down the ground. That sets up 11 from the over.
10th over: South Africa 88-3 (Brevis 35, Stubbs 8) There’s another one! Abbott the target this time, first ball of his over, and Brevis hits him straight down the ground for six, then smokes the next ball through point for four. Almost out to follow, mistimed ball over the leg side, but it drops just wide of long on, who was rushing around. The over goes for 15.
9th over: South Africa 73-3 (Brevis 21, Stubbs 7) There’s a hit! Zampa’s first over, and Brevis makes room to lift him down the ground for six. They didn’t clear the rope until the very end of the innings in the first match, so they’ve changed that tonight, SA, but a lot of low-scoring stuff in between those shots, so they’re only going at about eight an over.
8th over: South Africa 63-3 (Brevis 14, Stubbs 4) Sean Abbott does the Sean Abbott thing, hard length, in at the body, six from the over. Stubbs is almost run out from the fifth ball, direct hit while dashing a single, was that Owen or Marsh with the throw? Someone solid. Just survives though, by an inch.
7th over: South Africa 57-3 (Brevis 12, Stubbs 0) So that Maxwell over began with a miscued six from Brevis that just limped over the rope down the ground, then Maxwell conceded one more run from the next five balls. Figures of 2 for 20 from three, you’ll take that from your spinner with two overs in the Powerplay!
WICKET! Pretorius st Carey b Maxwell 10, SA 57-3
Well, what on God’s green earth was that? There were signs of this the other night, but tonight backs it up. Pretorius is a young player and a has a reputation as a fearsome striker, but he’s a sloppy cricketer at this stage of his career. Whether being heavyset is the reason or not, he’s slow across the ground. He didn’t put in effort in the field the other night. In this over he’s almost run out taking a sharp second that a modern T20 player should be taking every time. Then, fifth ball of the over, he comes wandering down at Maxwell, is beaten by the ball, and just gives up. Stands there out of his ground, slowly turns around, doesn’t even move towards the batting crease. In the meantime, Carey has fumbled the stumping. Drops the ball, it rolls towards square leg. And as Pretorius stares mutely on, Carey crawls after it, scrambles it back into his gloves, and launches into the stumps. Stumped, with no effort at all to avoid it. That’s just not good enough, in any form of cricket.
6th over: South Africa 50-2 (Pretorius 10, Brevis 5) Something early for Brevis tonight after a brief start to his tournament, he gets a driveable ball from Dwarshuis and sends it to the rope. More importantly, David has hurt his shoulder trying to save the boundary. Lands on it hard while unable to flick the ball back. TV comms talking about the relative worth of risking such good players to save a run here and there, and I tend to agree. Only a single and a leg bye otherwise from the over, another tidy one from Dwarshuis. That’s the Powerplay.
5th over: South Africa 44-2 (Pretorius 10, Brevis 0) No run for Dewald Brevis first ball, as Maxwell closes out the over for 9 runs and a wicket.
WICKET! Markram c Owen b Maxwell 18, SA 44-2
Maxwell to continue, the young Pretorius top edges a sweep, it swirls over fine leg… and dropped! Zampa was circling under it like a puzzled shark, never looked set, and as it comes down he’s craning his neck to work out the angle of the drop. His head isn’t in position, and he spills it. Maxwell is not happy, with two runs conceded as well, and he’s even less happy next ball when Pretorius puts him on the roof. Huge sweep shot, bounces off the corrugated tin. But Maxwell’s mood improves after a single, as Markram skips down, laces an off drive, but hits it flat and straight at mid off. Owen takes the catch.
4th over: South Africa 35-1 (Markram 18, Pretorius 1) Ben Dwarshuis finishes the over tightly, only one run from it along with the wicket.
WICKET! Rickelton c David b Dwarshuis 14, SA 34-1
Swings earlier, but doesn’t swing well enough, Rickelton. Tries to repeat the big shot over the leg side, hits it higher than he does long, and it’s caught at the edge of the circle on the off side.
3rd over: South Africa 32-0 (Markram 18, Rickelton 14) Hazlewood for his second, and he gets crunched! Rickelton spent the first game batting like a busted, but he gets going early tonight, a powerful swing over wide long on. Picks it up off a length and muscles, like he tried to do when Maxwell produced that magic boundary catch to settle the game on Sunday. Rickelton follows up two balls later with four, Hazlewood doesn’t hit the pinch and the full toss is carved behind point. Swaps strike, last ball of the over Markram adds a six! Shorter, pulled, hit clean. Hazlewood beat them on his own last time, but tonight his second over goes for 19.
2nd over: South Africa 13-0 (Markram 12, Rickelton 1) Maxwell to bowl the second over, also as he did the other night. Off-spinner in the Powerplay, tough job, but he does it exceptionally this time. Concedes two runs first ball, then ties down Markram for the next three. Only goes for two more singles in the over. Rushes through it, bowls a tight line, doesn’t give the length to hit. He’s clever.
1st over: South Africa 9-0 (Markram 9, Rickelton 0) Hazlewood to begin, and Markram begins with a boundary! Drives him through cover first ball. He did something similar the other night. Follows up a couple of balls later with a straight drive for four, also similar to the other night. That time he hit three fours off the first five balls, then got out. This time, he hits two fours, then takes a single. Better.
Some rejigging for those teams there. Inglis is unwell, so Carey comes in but isn’t carded to bat as high, meaning Green goes to 3, David to 4, and Maxwell up to 5, leaving Owen where he was last start. Also Abbott comes in for Ellis.
For the South Africans, van der Dussen comes in higher up while squeezing out George Linde lower down, and Peter replaces Senuran Muthusamy.
South Africa
Aiden Markram *
Ryan Rickelton +
Rassie van der Dussen
Lhuan-dre Pretorius
Dewald Brevis
Tristan Stubbs
Corbin Bosch
Nqabayomzi Peter
Kagiso Rabada
Kwena Maphaka
Lungi Ngidi
Australia
Travis Head
Mitchell Marsh *
Cameron Green
Tim David
Glenn Maxwell
Mitchell Owen
Alex Carey +
Ben Dwarshuis
Sean Abbott
Adam Zampa
Josh Hazlewood
Australia win the toss and will bowl
They had to bat first the other night, but they like chasing, as most T20 teams do. They’ll get their way on that matter tonight.
Preamble
Geoff Lemon
Here we go. Another date in Darwin in August, winter in Australia but still plenty warm and tropical in the very north of the continent. And most importantly, usually dry. This is the second and final date in the Northern Territory before the third T20 moves on to Cairns in Queensland. If you’re from somewhere else and trying to visualise our country’s map, the latter is the pointy bit on the right, and the former is the hat in the middle. Today is a hat day. Every day in the NT should be a hat day, really.
Australia won the first T20 when they really didn’t have any right to, after being six down for 75, but South Africa let off Tim David and he punched up the score. Even so, SA should have won the chase, but Josh Hazlewood was too good and created a turning point.
So, Aiden Markram’s team will be annoyed to have let one slip, but Australia’s attacking method will give them chances. Just have to take them.
Let’s see what happens second time around.
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