Aussie bats fail to fire

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A brilliant unbeaten 89 by South African captain Graeme Smith has guided his team to an emphatic eight-wicket victory over Australia in an ICC World Twenty20 warm up match at Centurion on Sunday. More... A brilliant unbeaten 89 by South African captain Graeme Smith has guided his team to an emphatic eight-wicket victory over Australia in an ICC World Twenty20 warm up match at Centurion on Sunday. Smith shared a match-winning 116-run stand with AB de Villiers as the Proteas overhauled Australia's 8-179 with five balls remaining. Ben Hilfenhaus was the pick of the Australian bowlers, claiming the wicket of Herschelle Gibbs en route to figures of 1-24 from three overs. Hopes for a massive Australian innings were dashed when Adam Gilchrist, Brad Haddin and Brad Hodge departed in the space of six balls to leave the visitors teetering at 3-21 in the fourth over. Gilchrist and Haddin were bowled by Shaun Pollock off consecutive deliveries. Andrew Symonds and Michael Hussey steadied the ship with a relatively circumspect 43-run stand but the regular loss of wickets meant Australia would always struggle to get anywhere near 200. It took a whirlwind 41-run stand between tailenders Mitchell Johnson (30 off 12 balls) and Nathan Bracken (11 off six) to push Australia to a competitive 179. However, that total never appeared large enough once Smith and de Villiers united in the middle. De Villiers was brutal on the Australian attack, crashing four fours and four sixes on his way to 65 off only 35 balls. Australia innings Gilchrist b Pollock 9 (8) Hodge run out (Ntini) 6 (10) Haddin b Pollock 0 (1) Symonds c Ntini b van der Wath 45 (26) Hussey c de Villiers b Nel 14 (21) Hogg b Morkel 28 (19) Hayden b Philander 18 (9) Lee c Pollock b Morkel 11 (8) Johnson not out 30 (12) Bracken not out 11 (6) Extras (4lb, 3w) 7 Total 179 (8 wickets; 20 overs) FoW: 1-16, 2-16, 3-21, 4-64, 5-79, 6-120, 7-138, 8-138. Bowling Pollock 3-0-16-2 Ntini 3-0-17-0 (1w) M Morkel 4-0-37-2 Nel 4-0-39-1 Tshabalala 2-0-35-0 van der Wath 3-0-25-1 Philander 1-0-6-1 South Africa innings Gibbs b Hilfenhaus 20 (16) Smith not out 89 (61) de Villiers c Hodge b Bracken 65 (35) Duminy not out 1 (3) Extras (3lb, 5w) 8 Total 183 (2 wickets; 19.1 overs) FoW: 1-54, 2-170 Bowling Lee 2-0-14-0 Bracken 3.1-0-30-1 Hilfenhaus 3-0-24-1 (2w) Johnson 3-0-29-0 (3w) Clark 3-0-29-0 Hodge 3-0-35-0 Hogg 2-0-19-0

[King]

Even though it is just a warm up game it is fantastic to see anyone beat Aussies.

[Holysmoke]

oh well, now punter will come and shout at them, and they will go unbeaten thru this world cup too....

[Cricketics]

fail?? i thought they put a good score of about 180, its jus tthat they didn't put up good enough score perhapz for their bowlers to contain saf batz..

[Chaos]

duude anyone will win against then except india...

[monkeyfood]

I happy some1 beat aussies just to do it in the real thing

[Guest Hiten.]

wtf... even a target of 179 is mere in these 20-20..... god knows what will happen to india :(