A rampant Australia showed their class as they defeated hosts South Africa by 97 runs in the third and deciding T20I match played at Newlands, Cape Town on Wednesday.
South African captain Quinton de Kock won the toss and decided to field first. David Warner and Aaron Finch started off to a cautious start in first two overs. Finch and Warner took 17 runs from Rabada over and then 18 runs off Nortje over which put South African bowlers under pressure. The experienced duo was simply rampant with aggressive stroke play and good running between the wicket. At the end of six overs, Australia raced towards 75 for 0.
After the power play overs, Warner and Finch continued their attacking stroke play which made life tough for South African bowlers. The Australian captain Finch reached his fifty off 27 balls while Warner hit a six to complete his half-century off 30 balls. Shamsi bowled some tight overs before Nortje got the breakthrough dismissing Warner for 57 with a running catch from David Miller. Australian openers added 120 runs which laid a strong foundation. Shamsi got rid of other opener Aaron Finch to apply the breaks on Australian batting.
Mitchell Marsh showed his hitting skills with a quick fire 19 off 16 balls . Matthew Wade struggled to time the ball and was dismissed by Lungi Ngidi. Dwaine Pretorius struck to get rid of Marsh to stem run flow. Lungi Ngidi was simply sensational in the death overs. Steve Smith who came at number 5 took some time to settle before smashing 20 runs off Anrich Nortje in the 20th over to help Australia post 193 for 5 in 20 overs.
In reply to 194 runs to win, it was not an ideal start for the hosts as de Kock was bowled by Mitchell Starc in the first over. Rassie Van der Dussen looked impressive with stroke play and made batting look easy. Faf du Plessis was dismissed chasing a wide delivery which went straight into hands of Zampa. Klassen and Dussen played some lovely strokes which put Australia under some pressure. At the end of six overs, South Africa were 50 for 2.
Adam Zampa was bought into the attack and dismissed Klassen for 22. Klassen and Dussen added 34 runs for the 3rd wicket. Australian bowlers were relentless and kept picking wickets at regular intervals as they did not allow South African batsmen to score runs easily. Australia bowled out South Africa for just 96 in 15.3 overs.
Australia 193 for 5 in 20 overs (Warner 57, Aaron Finch 55, Ngidi 1/33) beat South Africa 96 in 15.3 overs (Van der Dussen 24, Klassen 22, Ashton Agar 3/16, Starc 3/23) by 97 runs.
For his 3 for 23, Mitchell Starc was awarded the man of the match. Aaron Finch for his 111 runs in 3 matches was awarded the man of the series.
