While Aiden Markram played a fine knock with the bat, Keshav Maharaj took a magical five-wicket haul to help South Africa defeat Australia by 98 runs at the Cazalys Stadium on Tuesday. The Mitchell Marsh-led side were bundled out for 198 in their chase of 297 as the Proteas recorded their biggest ODI victory over the Baggy Greens in history.
After being put to bat first by the hosts, Markram (82) and Ryan Rickelton (33) provided the visitors with a strong start with their opening stand of 92 runs. Temba Bavuma (65) and Matthew Breetzke (57) also played highly important knocks as South Africa posted a massive total of 296/8 on the board. The pitch surely belonged to the spinners as Travis Head was the pick of the bowlers for the hosts, registering figures of 4/57.
Markram looked set to be going on to score a big total, having found the boundary on nine occasions, but eventually ended up giving away his wicket to Ben Dwarshuis. Bavuma and Breetzke settled in well, but lost their wickets after scoring valiant half-centuries. Tristan Stubbs (0) and ODI debutant Dewald Brevis (6) were the two batters that heavily dissappointed for the Proteas.
This left Wiaan Mulder (31*) as the only batter in the middle-order who showed some fight while Australia did well to restrict the visitors, giving away only 73 runs in the final 10 overs. Despite an economical bowling display from the hosts in the final few overs, South Africa still managed to post the highest total ever in the stadium located in Cairns.
Mahraj shattered Australia's batting order
In reply, the Baggy Greens started off well with Travis Head (27) and Mitchell Marsh (88) and formed a 60-run opening stand. Just when they looked to be in complete control of the match, the former ended up losing his wicket to Prenelan Subrayen’s first ODI wicket. Australia's entire middle-order was decimated by Maharaj, who took five big wickets in between the 8th and 16th over as the hosts got restricted to 89/6 at one stage.
It was Dwarshuis' cameo of 33 which saved Australia from complete embarrassment, but he wasn't able to save the side from defeat. Lungi Ngidi picked up the final wicket of the match in the form of Adam Zampa as South Africa bulldozed through the hosts and took a 1-0 lead in the three-match assignment. The second match of this series will take place on August 22 at the Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay.