Australia vs South Africa 1st Twenty20 2009: Australia Won by 52 Runs

(This entry was originally published on Sunday, January 11th, 2009)

Australia defeated South Africa by 52 runs in the first Twenty20 match at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) today. Thanks to debutant opener David Warner’s outstanding innings of 89 off 43 balls, Australia scored a challenging total of 182 runs, losing 9 wickets after 20 overs. In his explosive innings, Warner hit 7 boundaries and 6 over-boundaries. Second highest 21 runs came from skipper Ricky Ponting. Dale Steyn picked up 3 wickets, while Makhaya Ntini and Albie Morkel got 2 wickets each.

Chasing a challenging target of 183 runs, South Africa got off to a poor start as they lost the wicket of opener Herschelle Gibbs in the first over of the innings. South Africa fell in real trouble when Kallis and de Villiers were dismissed pretty early, leaving South Africa 12 for 3. Duminy scored highest 78 runs and David Hussey picked up 3 wickets for Australia. Warner was awarded man of the match.

Australia Named Squad for Twent20 and ODI Series against South Africa

(This entry was published on Thursday, January 8th, 2009)

Australia announced Twenty20 and ODI squad for the upcoming series against South Africa in which the two sides face each other in a two-match Twenty20 series and a five-match test series. The notable omission from the squad is hard-hitting opener Mathew Hayden who has been going through a bad patch since returning from a heel injury. The batsman performed poorly in the recent test series. With a long term plan in mind, Australian selectors omitted Hayden in search of someone who would be able to play in World Twenty20 2009 and World Cup 2010.

Though he was left out of Australia’s squads for limited version cricket, the player still has enough chance to be part of Australia’s Ashes squad in England this year. Captain Ricky Ponting has also backed the left handed opener. There are two new faces in Australia’s Twenty20 squad. New South Wales batsman David Warner and Queensland allrounder Ryan Harris have been called into national team for the first time. Both the players excelled in Australia’s domestic cricket recently.

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