Warner, Maxwell power Australia to series-levelling win against SA

David Warner and Glenn Maxwell shared the fourth highest partnership in the history of T20 International cricket to set Australia up for a last-ball, five-wicket victory over South Africa in the second T20 International at the Wanderers Stadium on Sunday.

The series is now locked 1-1 ahead of the decider in Cape Town on Wednesday.

Warner (77 off 40 balls, 6 fours and 5 sixes) and Maxwell (75 off 43 balls, 7 fours and 3 sixes) shared a partnership of 161 which was Australia’s highest ever and also the highest ever for the fourth wicket and the highest for any wicket at the Wanderers.

-Scorecard

This came after the Proteas had struck three early blows in the power play to reduce Australia to 36/3 in pursuit of a target of 205.

Both Dale Steyn and Kagiso Rabada bowled well during the power play with the latter also taking an incredible acrobatic catch to dismiss Australian captain Steve Smith.

Warner, who was named Man of the Match, and Maxwell then launched a thrilling counter-attack that saw Imran Tahir and David Wiese conceded a combined total of 105 runs from their 8 overs.

As always in these matches the contest came down to fine margins with Chris Morris bowling a no ball and two wides in his last over and Rabada two wides in his last over when he almost managed to defend a target of 11 runs and force a super over.

Australia’s total was the third highest winning total batting second at the Wanderers, being only surpassed by the West Indies 236/6 against the Proteas in 2015 and the Proteas 208/2 against the West Indies in 2008.

The Proteas, who were put into bat, owed their total in the main to Faf du Plessis’ 79 off 41 balls (5 fours and 5 sixes) although there were good supporting roles from Quinton de Kock (44 off 28 balls, 8 fours and a six) and David Miller (33 off 18 balls, 2 fours and 2 sixes).

James Faulkner was another major contributor to Australia’s triumph with figures of 3/28 in his 4 overs.

The Australian bowlers were generally more disciplined than their South African counterparts, conceding 3 wides and 1 no ball, compared with the South Africans 8 wides and 2 no balls.