Aaron Finch starred as the tourists chased down South Africa’s 128-7 from 20 overs with five overs to spare.
Finch’s was some lofty hitting (39 off 27 balls) but it was man-of-the-match Mitchell Starc that helped restrict the Proteas to what as a modest total and set up the win.
“It puts us in a good way for the World T20,” said all-rounder Shane Watson, who also played well, hitting 35 off 28 balls.
The win augurs well for Australia with the Twenty20 World Cup in Bangladesh around the corner.
South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis agreed.
“They have a powerhouse batting order … everyone in that top seven or eight can come in and take the game away from you,” he said.
“That’s very dangerous. It’s definitely a massive positive for them going into the World Cup on those (subcontinent) wickets. They’ve got a good side.”
Starc – who started with a fiery opening spell which begun with a maiden over, the last ball thundering into Quinton de Kock’s throat at almost 140 km/h – could well be called in to lead the attack in Bangladesh with Mitchell Johnson a doubt with a toe infection.
“As we saw today, if you can take wickets – in the first six overs especially but throughout the innings – it’s a lot harder to keep swinging at the end,” Starc said. “Where if you’re two down or three down heading in to that last five, there’s a lot of freedom for the batsmen.”
Australia’s T20 World Cup campaign starts Sunday week against Pakistan in Dhaka.
Image via Getty
