SA vs AUS, 1st ODI: Breetzke, Keshav Maharaj help South Africa beat Australia by 67 runs

Matthew Breetzke anchored South Africa’s innings with a fluent 112 against Australia. | Photo Credit: AP

A Matthew Breetzke century proved enough for South Africa to go one-up in the three-match ODI series against Australia at the Kingsmead in Durban on Thursday.

Breetzke hit 112 to take South Africa to 297 for eight before Keshav Maharaj picked four wickets to bowl Australia out for 230 and win the match by 67 runs.

Maharaj finished with economical figures of 4/20 in 9.2 overs and picked the last final wicket, of Adam Zampa, to finish the game inside 42 overs.

The left-arm spinner had earlier picked up key wickets of Mitchell Marsh, Cameron Green, and Jack Edwards. Removing Marsh was particularly crucial for South Africa’s chances. The Aussie captain hit six sixes and five fours for his 36-ball 60 and took his team to 90 in 9.2 overs before Maharaj had him caught.

Keshav Maharaj finished with economical figures of 4/20 in 9.2 overs. | Photo Credit: AP

Once Marsh left, the Protean bowlers got their side back into the game and picked wickets at regular intervals. Travis Head and Cooper Connolly couldn’t get going despite getting starts while Josh Ingis, Green, Edwards were dismissed cheaply.

Matt Renshaw scored 44 but kept running out of partners at the other end before Marco Jansen took a splendid one-handed catch at the boundary to send him back. Post his dismissal, it was only a matter of time before South Africa wrapped things up.

Earlier, Breetzke anchored the host’s innings with a fluent century which included 14 fours and two sixes. South Africa did look in a spot of bother when it continued to lose frequent wickets and found itself 168 for five by the 34th over.

However, Jansen played an attacking 75 off 59 balls, smacking four sixes and seven fours. He combined 107 runs for the sixth wicket with Breetzke to take South Africa close to the 300-run mark — a total good enough to give the host a lead in the series.