Jonhenry Wilson digs out a cracker from the Hollywoodbets Kingsmead vault as we count down the weeks to the three-match T20 International series between the Proteas and Australia!
Hollywoodbets Kingsmead in Durban has witnessed several intense rivalries in international cricket, especially South Africa versus Australia.
March 2016’s T20I series opener epitomised the longstanding competition between the Proteas and Aussies.
Australian captain Steven Smith won the toss and opted to bat first in this day-night fixture.
The visitors soon slipped to 97 for five inside a dozen overs on a challenging pitch.
Leg-spinner Imran Tahir entered the bowling attack early to stop opener Aaron Finch from truly capitalising on a fast start. Tahir had Finch caught by deep midwicket fielder Kagiso Rabada for 40 off 18 deliveries.
David Miller is awarded Man of the Match for his 35-ball 53 #SAvAUS pic.twitter.com/AJ8zsJ7iNu
— CricTracker (@Cricketracker) March 4, 2016
The Proteas needed 86 runs from 63 deliveries when the cool, calm and collected David Miller arrived at the crease.
The next 51 minutes saw Miller collect 53 not out from 35, which included three fours and three sixes, to win with four deliveries to spare and three wickets in hand.
Miller relished late support from lower-order trio Chris Morris, Wiese and Abbott – and was duly named Player of the Match.
Miller was particularly fruitful against seamer Andrew Tye, spanking two sixes in an over, before Dolphins man Abbott hit the winning runs to send the anticipant Kingsmead crowd into a celebratory crescendo.
“We’ve prided ourselves on chasing. Most people know we’ve never had great success in the past but we’ve really turned the corner. We are a confident batting unit. We’ve believed we can win from situations where you don’t quite think you can. We’ve done it,” said Miller at the time.
“We’re fortunate to be in the position with a lot of batters, with Wiese and Morris batting as well as bowling. Chris and David – they don’t just hit the ball, they’ve proved that they can finish games. It’s great to know we can win games with six or seven wickets down.
“The boys are joking around in the change room that Kyle is batting for his average lately, just wanting to get that little not out. But credit to him, he has been working really hard in the nets.”
Australia will arrive in South Africa for their white-ball tour in August, playing three T20 Internationals at Hollywoodbets Kingsmead before heading inland to Bloem, Potch and Gauteng for five One Day Internationals.
Tickets are available now for the three T20 Internationals from TicketPro. Check out all of the key dates and times for the series:
- First T20: Wednesday 30 August – 18:00
- Second T20: Friday 1 September – 18:00
- Third T20: Sunday 3 September – 14:00
