Australia beat South Africa by five wickets in first match of ICC T20 World Cup

Australia managed to defeat South Africa by 5 wickets in the first match of the ICC T20 World Cup. Chasing 119 runs, Australia were kept in the hunt by Steve Smith who scored a valuable 35 runs for his team. Even the unbeaten partnership of 40 runs between Marcus Stoinis ( 24 not out) and Matthew Wade ( 15 not out) played a key role in Australia’s victory.

All the South African bowlers bowled exceptionally well with Anrich Nortje taking two wickets while Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj added one wicket each to their bowling figures.

Earlier, South Africa scored 118 runs from 20 overs. The team led by Temba Bavuma failed to score heavily and the regular fall of wickets restricted them to a low total in the first match of the ICC T20 World Cup. Aiden Makaram was the only batter who looked comfortable and scored 40 runs for his team. For Australia, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Adam Zampa took two wickets each.