Australia copped a Twenty20 wake-up call at Adelaide Oval last night when they were comfortably beaten by seven wickets by a South African line-up that was missing AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis, Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander.
Despite missing such world-class talent, the South Africans out-bowled, out-batted and out-fielded the Australians in front of a healthy 25,370 crowd.
Those in the stands had little to cheer about, aside from Shane Watson and James Faulkner’s batting, plus the bowling of leggie Cameron Boyce and paceman Pat Cummins.
Watson was filthy with himself when he holed out in the overs after a well-compiled 47 that strangely didn’t include any fours, but three sixes.
While he and Faulkner were putting together a handy 57-run partnership in seven overs, it looked as though the Australians could post a defendable 160-plus,
But with Watson’s dismissal the rest of the order could only manage 145 – and that was never going to be enough against the South Africans.
The mere fact Australia couldn’t score one boundary in the final 26 deliveries underlined how little the tag wagged.
But the damage was done earlier when skipper Aaron Finch, Cameron White, debutant Ben Dunk, and Watson all holed out forcing the pace, while another debutant, Nathan Reardon, had his attempted uppercut hauled in by leaping keeper Quinton de Kock.
They were baseball shots, not treating deliveries on their merit.
Twenty20 cricket is simple. There are 120 deliveries, and ticking the scoreboard over is a must while despatching bad deliveries into, or over, the ropes.
Adelaide was a belter of a batting wicket, and the South African bowlers were really professional in bowling a tight line and length that frustrated the Australians into playing baseball shots to keep the scoreboard attendants busy.
That’s what Bobby Simpson and Bill Lawry would have done, without peers as a combination running between wickets.
But the attendants were kept busy for the wrong reasons, regularly replacing the Australian batsmen’s names in the not out space.
South Africa’s opening bowler Kyle Abbott deserved man-of-the-match honours for his 3-21 off his four overs, but teammate Rilee Rossouw was given the honour for his 78 off 50 deliveries, with seven fours and three sixes.
Reardon dropped him on seven off the bowling of Australian opener Doug Bollinger, who had captured the first wicket of Reeza Hendricks off the third ball of the innings. At that time South Africa was 1-0. Hendricks was caught by a diving Ben Dunk.
Dunk is an opening batsman who recently scored an Australian domestic record 229* from just 157 deliveries against Queensland in a 50-over game at North Sydney Oval. The knock included 15 fours and a record 13 sixes.
But Dunk batted at four last night behind Finch, White and Watson – which was well out of position for the left-hander.
The order should have been Finch, Dunk, Watson and White, especially as Australia batted first after winning the toss.
The mistake was magnified by poor batting, with the exception of Watson and Faulkner who finished unbeaten on 41.
But the Australian bowling pluses belonged to leggie Boyce, with 1-31 off his four, but more so with Cummins’ 1-21. He was constantly around the 140 mark, and though we mightn’t see him get back to the 150-plus speed that caused his spate of injuries, Cummins is still slippery.
Cameron Boyce and Pat Cummins will be crucial in future Australian attacks.
The series moves to the MCG on Friday night, with Australia forced to make some changes.
Don Freo
Guest
'Spose it was a BASE comment. I shouldn't be so FOUL-mouthed. I'll try to STRIKE a happier note on the HOME-RUN.
Don Freo
Guest
Paine, Dunk, Carters, Hadden, Nevill, Hartley, Ludeman, Wade, Handscomb, Whiteman, Bancroft. Apparently, with keeping gloves, you can impart SOK-like spin
Don Freo
Guest
As long as they hit the pitch. Remember Johnny Howard's offies?
Don Freo
Guest
Can't wait for the footy season...we all agree! I suppose we're all tipping Freo for the flag, too.
Tom from Perth
Roar Rookie
Cut it out Don.
Don Freo
Guest
Mind you, he was criticizing silly cricket and playing it like baseball (which is a pretty silly game) does make the point. It's the point that is silly. I'm not trying to COVER his SILLY POINT...just trying to SLIP a LONG LEG into baseball. (This line of puns might become a KEEPER.)
Luke
Guest
I'm not sure you need to degrade baseball to get the point across that the batting in game one was under par. What would be the point of a baseball batter deliberately trying to foul a ball over the catcher like Reardon with his attempted uppercut over slips? I think the shot was on to that ball, the execution was just not up to par. He gets it over the cordon for four and it is a clever shot. Also, Watson's blazing cover drive was there to hit in this format, two metres either side of the fieldsman and it is 4, he goes to 50 and a total of 160 is on the cards. Using a baseball analogy is just silly, why not stick to terms relevant to the game of cricket?
Dan Ced
Roar Rookie
Just putting my stock comment in here: Bring in the Kling.
Dan Ced
Roar Rookie
I felt to me, being at the game, that the teamwork was poor, maybe the captaincy or coaching. I don't mind that list on paper as individuals.
Dan Ced
Roar Rookie
Roussow was the highlight of the game, expected tentativeness being a debutant.. or a performance akin to OUR two debutants!.. but he played impressively. I constantly, unerringly give Cummins rubbish for being overrated and average, but he was passable. As was Boyce. Doug the rug looks great running in but magically a pie appears when he releases.
Don Freo
Guest
Bill Lawry in T20! Now that is a stretch.
Don Freo
Guest
This "beaten by seven wickets" stuff, David, is a bit misleading in T20. Australia only lost 6 wickets so, really, they lost by 3 wickets. That terminology is only valid for 4 innings games. Australia only lost by 6 balls. Suddenly things are not so dramatic. That's only one mishit the difference. I would have thought you know enough about the game to not misrepresent the result. Your other misrepresentation was to list SA players not playing but to choose to not do so for Australia. That side was not even close to Australia's best side...in fact Finch, Faulkner, Watson and White might be the only 4 who might be worthy of a game in our best 30. Dunk, Reardon, Cutting, Richardson, Boyce and Bollinger are not in Australia's best 40 cricketers There's nothing at all to worry about. Australia sees T20 as just a training session and that's as it should be. Fun to watch but barely anything serious. It's not as if it says anything about a nation's cricketing status.
Shouts Chen
Guest
Might need Warner back in game 2.
ajay
Guest
max is back now wait proteas
VivGilchrist
Guest
Terrible article. Yes they played poorly, but you make it sound like it was only South Africa that wasn't full strength. A little note to CA..... Stop shafting the public. If your charging people full price, give us the full team. Why would I want to go and fork out $70 on Wednesday night to watch two B teams play?
ajay
Guest
chris lynn?? he was in nice touch against eng
twodogs
Guest
Quite right Hoppy, look at the negatives over there- stinkin hot, lost both tosses, no crowd, shitty pitch and worst of all. ... no beer. Did they ever stand a chance?
Another Pom in Oz
Guest
Ridiculous comment. Buy a dictionary and you'll see that the word healthy has more than one definition...
Hoppy
Guest
Lol. Lost 2 test matches in conditions that we were always going to lose in, and suddenly everyone has gone into panic mode. Ridiculous.
spruce moose
Guest
Oh, if thats the case...don't I look quite the fool! :P