Key events
South Africa
Aiden Markram *
Ryan Rickelton +
Rassie van der Dussen
Lhuan-dre Pretorius
Dewald Brevis
Tristan Stubbs
Corbin Bosch
Nqabayomzi Peter
Kagiso Rabada
Kwena Maphaka
Lungi Ngidi
Australia
Travis Head
Mitchell Marsh *
Cameron Green
Tim David
Glenn Maxwell
Mitchell Owen
Alex Carey +
Ben Dwarshuis
Sean Abbott
Adam Zampa
Josh Hazlewood
Australia win the toss and will bowl
They had to bat first the other night, but they like chasing, as most T20 teams do. They’ll get their way on that matter tonight.
Preamble
Geoff Lemon
Here we go. Another date in Darwin in August, winter in Australia but still plenty warm and tropical in the very north of the continent. And most importantly, usually dry. This is the second and final date in the Northern Territory before the third T20 moves on to Cairns in Queensland. If you’re from somewhere else and trying to visualise our country’s map, the latter is the pointy bit on the right, and the former is the hat in the middle. Today is a hat day. Every day in the NT should be a hat day, really.
Australia won the first T20 when they really didn’t have any right to, after being six down for 75, but South Africa let off Tim David and he punched up the score. Even so, SA should have won the chase, but Josh Hazlewood was too good and created a turning point.
So, Aiden Markram’s team will be annoyed to have let one slip, but Australia’s attacking method will give them chances. Just have to take them.
Let’s see what happens second time around.
