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Cape Town - Australia ‘A’ on Wednesday made short work of South Africa ‘A’ in the Tri-Series List A competition played in India, winning the opening contest in Chennai by nine wickets with a full 19 overs to spare.
The South Africans, who won the toss and elected to bat first, were only in the contest for the first 15 overs when Reeza Hendricks and his captain, Dean Elgar, shared a stand of 73 runs.
Thereafter, it was one-way traffic as they were bowled out for 171 and did not manage to bat out their full 50 overs.
Hendricks (43 off 64 balls, 3 fours and a six) made the only contribution of note and no other partnership reached even 30 runs.
The wickets were shared around with Nathan Coulter-Nile (3/31 in 10) having the best return.
The day remained a dismal one for the South Africans when it came to their turn to bowl. They conceded seven no balls and four wides and were unable to make an early breakthrough.
Usman Khawaja (73 off 82 balls, 9 fours) and Joe Burns (63 not out off 91 balls, 6 fours and a six) shared an opening stand of 142 in 26.2 overs to finish the match as a contest before Burns and Travis Head added an unbroken 33 in 4.4 overs to round off an emphatic victory.
Australia did have the advantage of having just come off a two-match Test series against India ‘A’ while the South Africans have come out of a wintry Pretoria
However, the latter will have to hit their straps quickly to get back into the series. The margin of Wednesday’s defeat has left them with a heavy negative run-rate which will impact on their chances of reaching the final.
Khawaja was named man-of-the-match.
Elgar commented: “Seven no balls is a no-no in cricket. Extremely disappointed but credit to Australia's bowlers.”
Australia play the next match against India ‘A’ on Friday while South Africa ‘A’ play India ‘A’ on Sunday (05:30 SA time).
