South Africa will be up against Australia in the 1st T20I match of the Australia Tour of South Africa at the Kingsmead in Durban on August 30. South Africa are not too proud of their recent history in this particular format, winning just one of their last five games. Australia, on the other hand, have been doing exceedingly well, winning three of their previous four matches, and are favorites over the home team to emerge victorious.
South Africa had squared off against West Indies in their last encounter, where South Africa won the toss and elected to field. West Indies blasted off to a blazing start even though they lost two wickets in quick succession. Their batters kept hitting and crossing the boundary line even though they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. By the end of the innings, they posted a huge total of 220 runs on the board. After a decent opening stand, Proteas batters changed gears and went ahead full throttle, but with remarkable work by the West Indies bowlers, they kept their nerves and won their team the match by just seven runs.
Australia last played a T20I game in November last year during the T20 World Cup against Afghanistan, where Afghanistan won the toss and elected to field. Australia started exceedingly well, maintaining a very healthy run rate. Although they lost a couple of wickets, they kept scoring constantly. They got a little slow towards the end but still managed to put up 168 runs on the board. In the chase, Afghanistan lost a wicket early but continued to score runs consistently, similar to their opponents. Rashid played fantastic innings, but the team fell short of the target by four runs and lost the match.
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