The first T20 in Port Elizabeth was abandoned without a ball being bowled. Durban was very close in suffering the same fate. Sahara Kingsmead Stadium was covered in a few islands of sawdust, with the wet outfield making the two teams worry about their safety. Fortunately, the umpires assessed the ground and agreed that the conditions would not harm any of the players, especially with the ICC World Twenty20 a few days away. South Africa and Australia were given 7 overs each.
Australia won toss and elected to bowl. Beuran Hendricks being the only man on debut, after a very successful Ram Slam tournament for him.
Quinton de Kock & Amla opened the batting. The line-up was not changed to accommodate the shortened match. Cricket's Imperfect Angel thought the big hitters would open, or maybe de Kock would have been paired with another big hitter.
South Africa had somewhat of a slow start. In 2 overs they had 6 runs and in 3 overs they had 11 runs.
Eventually the run rate picked up as de Kock and du Plessis were smashing 6's and 4's just like it should be in T20 cricket.
The Proteas posted 80-1. De Kock on 41* and du Plessis 27*.
Australia needed 81 runs to win from 42 balls at 11.57 runs per over.
Compared to South Africa, Australia had the better start. They scored 21 runs in their first over, and were well above the required run rate which kept getting higher and higher and at one point it was 13.80.
Picking up where he left off during the Test series, David Warner was the culprit once again as he hit 40 runs off 15 balls.
However, the introduction of JP Duminy into the attack changed the match as he claimed the wickets of Warner and Glenn Maxwell in the same over, with du Plessis taking an incredible catch.
The last over produced 15 runs that Australia needed to win, in which Hodge smashed two consecutive 6's to take Australia home.
Australia won by 5 wickets, finishing with figures of 81-5 in 6.4 overs.
The Man of the Match was Hodge for his 21* runs off 8 deliveries.
Hopefully the 3rd and final T20 in Centurion will not be affected by rain like the first two T20's. Both these teams need practice before heading to Bangladesh for the ICC World Twenty20.
