Willowmoore Park hosts Australia
The match was played at Benoni’s cricket stadium from February 22 to 24.
Four second-innings wickets from Australian paceman Mitchell Starc were the highlight of the third day’s play in the warm-up clash between captain Steve Smith’s team and South Africa A at Sahara Park Willowmoore.
The Australians emerged victorious by five wickets, but it was not as easy as they would have initially thought.
They will, however, be delighted to have got good time on the field in the match, which served as a precursor to the four-match Test series between the Australians and the Proteas, which gets under way in Durban on March 1.
South Africa A (led by Khaya Zondo) scored 220 runs in their first innings on day one (Theunis de Bruyn top-scoring with 46 runs) as the Australian quick bowlers acclimatised to the Highveld conditions.
Pat Cummins (4/32 in 11 overs) and Josh Hazelwood (3/40 in 12 overs) were the stars of Australia’s first innings with the leather.
With the bat, most of the Australian batsmen got starts but could not convert these into milestones on day two.
Opener Cameron Bancroft scored 45 runs at the top of the order, but struggled to find good partnerships.
Number eight batsman Cummins, however, showed his all-round ability.
His 59 runs helped the Aussies to a 109-run lead.
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Beuran Hendricks was the star with the ball for SA A, bagging figures of 5/83 in 24.4 overs.
on from the mid-on fielding position.
The left-armer picked up his 14th five-wicket haul in first-class cricket, and found useful support from fellow seamers Duanne Olivier and Malusi Siboto, who picked up two wickets apiece.
The home side’s openers, Zubayr Hamza and Pieter Malan, batted through the last 18 overs of day two to move their side to 55 for 0 at stumps.
Resuming on day three, South Africa A were bowled out for 248, leaving the visitors a target of 140 runs which they chased down in 29.3 overs.
Star bowler Starc’s figures of 4/46 in 15 overs helped the Aussies to bowl out SA A.
Seven SA A batsmen got to 20 runs, but only Shaun von Berg, who smashed 52 off 43 balls, got to a half-century.
This reflected a trend which continued through the Australians’ chase, which saw 24 scores of 20 runs or more but only two half-centuries.
Cassim Suliman, CEO of the Eastern Cricket Union, said it was a delight to host Steve Smith and his team.
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