South Africa thrash ‘careless’ Australia by six wickets

PERTH: South Africa hammered a careless Australia by six wickets in the first One-day International in Perth on Sunday, with a Dale Steyn-led pace onslaught exposing their batting frailties.

Set 153 to win, Proteas’ openers Quinton de Kock (47) and Reeza Hendricks (44) helped secure victory with 124 balls to spare, leaving Australia with plenty to ponder ahead of the second of the three-game series in Adelaide on Friday.

The hosts came into the clash having lost 16 of their past 18 ODIs and with the reverberations of a ball-tampering scandal this year still hanging over them.Coach Justin Langer was hoping they could put a smile back on the faces of fans in their first game on home soil since the cheating row boiled over in March.

But without the banned Steve Smith and David Warner, their batsmen were exposed once again in a stadium full of empty seats.They were bowled out for just 152 in 38.1 overs with Nathan Coulter-Nile (34) and Alex Carey (33) the only ones to offer any resistance. Veteran Steyn took 2-18 off seven overs while Andile Phehlukwayo picked up 3-33 off six overs.

“We didn’t play anywhere near our potential,” said skipper Aaron Finch.“We were a bit careless at times in the first innings. We were off the mark slowly.”The Proteas won the toss and after opting for a four-pronged pace attack chose to bowl, with Steyn getting two early breakthroughs.

Travis Head got a thick edge to de Kock off the veteran for just one and then D’Arcy Short, in the side for Shaun Marsh who needs minor surgery on an abscess, followed him back to the pavilion for a duck two balls later.

Finch totally misjudged the bounce from a Lungi Ngidi delivery and was out lbw soon after for five.The first four of the innings, from Chris Lynn, didn’t come until the 12th over, and he was caught behind for 15 on review not long after.

Carey kept the scoreboard slowly ticking over but he fell attempting to scoop an Imran Tahir ball over the head of de Kock before some late fireworks from Coulter-Nile took them past 150.Australia were buoyant ahead of the game with injured fast bowlers Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins returning to spearhead the attack alongside Josh Hazlewood.But they failed to emulate their South African counterparts.

South Africa won toss

Australia

*A Finch lbw b Ngidi 5

T Head c de Kock b Steyn 1

D Short c du Plessis b Steyn 0

C Lynn c de Kock b Phehlukwayo 15

†A Carey c de Kock b Imran 33

G Maxwell c Klaasen b Phehlukwayo 11

M Stoinis c Klaasen b Phehlukwayo 14

P Cummins run out 12

N Coulter-Nile c Klaasen b Ngidi 34

M Starc lbw b Imran 12

J Hazlewood not out 6

Extras (b2, lb4, w3) 9

Total (all out, 38.1 overs) 152

Fall: 1-4, 2-4, 3-8, 4-36, 5-48, 6-66, 7-89, 8-107, 9-140, 10-152

Bowling: Steyn 7-1-18-2, Ngidi 8.1-3-26-2, Rabada 8-0-30-0, Phehlukwayo 6-0-33-3, Imran 9-0-39-2

South Africa

†Q de Kock c Hazlewood b Coulter-Nile 47

R Hendricks c Lynn b Stoinis 44

A Markram b Stoinis 36

*F du Plessis not out 10

H Klaasen c Finch b Stoinis 2

D Miller not out 2

Extras (b1, lb4, w7) 12

Total (4 wickets, 29.2 overs) 153

Did not bat: A Phehlukwayo, D Steyn, K Rabada, L Ngidi, Imran Tahir

Fall: 1-94, 2-122, 3-143, 4-151

Bowling: Hazlewood 8-2-41-0, Coulter-Nile 3-0-26-1, Starc 8-0-47-0, Cummins 6-2-18-0, Stoinis 4.2-1-16-3

Result: South Africa won by 6 wickets

Man of the Match: Dale Steyn (South Africa)

Umpires: Simon Fry (Australia) and Aleem Dar (Pakistan). TV umpire: Michael Gough (England). Match referee: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand)