1st T20
Australia 157/9 (20/20 ov)
South Africa 158/7 (19.2/20 ov)
South Africa won by 3 wickets (with 4 balls remaining)
David Miller struck his first international fifty since February last year and his career-best T20I score to guide South Africa to the highest successful chase at Kingsmead and a lead in the three-match series against Australia. Miller's return to form came at an opportune time - South Africa were 95 for 6 in their reply and needed a lower-order surge to ensure their efforts with the ball were not wasted.
On a dry, cracked pitch, they pulled Australia back in an innings that was destined for over 200. Imran Tahir led the strangle to pull Australia back from 69 for 1 in the PowerPlay. South Africa took 6 for 45 between the sixth and 16th over and not even Mitchell Marsh's cameo at the end gave Australia enough to defend.
Neither side will be entirely happy with their batting performance but Australia will have cause to question their composition more. For the first time in T20I cricket, they chose to bat David Warner down the order and used Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja upfront and may reconsider that going forward.
Finch's aggression was obvious was from the start. He took on Kagiso Rabada in his opening two overs but South Africa regained some control when Rabada removed Usman Khawaja.
Instead of keep Rabada on, du Plessis gave the ball to JP Duminy and Finch had a field day. He sent the first three balls for six over deep midwicket and the fourth delivery bounced just a few metres short of the deep cover rope. Duminy's over cost 24 runs and gave the early advantage to Australia.
Chris Morris did not fare too much better with an opening over of 15, as he veered between short and full and Warner used placement over power to cash in. David Wiese, who could have bowled with the fielding restrictions in place, was brought on immediately after they were lifted and had success by having Warner caught at backward point to stem the tide. Imran Tahir, who could also have bowled in that period if du Plessis felt he needed spin, came on in the next over and had Finch caught off a full toss to remove the biggest threat.
Tahir should have added Glenn Maxwell with the next ball but Quinton de Kock, who had taken over the keeping duties from AB de Villiers, spilled the catch. Maxwell lasted for long enough to see his captain, Steven Smith, scratch around and then edge Wiese to de Kock and then tried to hit Morris over cover but got a leading edge which du Plessis snaffled.
South Africa would have felt they were into the lower order with Peter Nevill, the specialist gloveman, at the crease and even more so when Tahir trapped him lbw and bowled John Hastings with a googly in his next over. Australia had tumbled to 114 for 7 and South Africa were in control.
Marsh struck the ball cleanly to ensure Morris' figures did not improve and even got stuck into Kyle Abbott. He finished with 35 off 25 balls when he fell in the final over to give Australia a fighting chance.
They were off to the perfect start when Nathan Coulter-Nile had AB de Villiers caught behind off the first ball of South Africa's reply. With Hashim Amla sitting out, South Africa seemed vulnerable, more so when Quinton de Kock misread the slower ball and offered Coulter-Nile a return catch.
Australia copied South Africa's approach and used their back-up spinner, Maxwell, in the PowerPlay and du Plessis tried to do as Finch did. He took 16 runs off Maxwell's over but South Africa were set back again when Duminy picked out midwicket. South Africa were 45 for 3 at the end of the PowerPlay.
Marsh and Adam Zampa kept South Africa quiet before Marsh removed Rilee Rossouw and next ball du Plessis was run-out, as Nevill completed a sharp piece of work after running round from behind the stumps, to leave South Africa 73 for 5 at the halfway stage with only the lower order to come.
Miller was the striker again when Wiese charged down for a single that was never on and it was left to Miller and Morris to win the game.
Both regard themselves as finishers. Morris has proved himself in the recent limited-overs matches against England, but it was Miller who took on the task of winning the match this time. He was particularly severe on Andrew Tye. His two sixes in Tye's third over brought South Africa's requirement down from 45 off 30 balls to 29 off 24.
Morris fell in the next over - Finch taking an excellent running catch - but Miller kept going. He sent Hastings through the covers and over deep square leg to leave just ten to get off the last two overs. Fittingly, Miller and his Dolphins team-mate Abbott were at the crease and after Miller brought up his fifty off 33 balls, Abbott hit the winning runs.
2nd T20
South Africa 204/7 (20/20 ov)
Australia 205/5 (20/20 ov)
Australia won by 5 wickets (with 0 balls remaining)
A dramatic final over filled with fumbles in the field saw James Faulkner and Mitchell Marsh take Australia to a first T20 win in six matches and level the series at 1-1 with their highest successful chase. Australia had slipped to 32 for 3 in pursuit of 205 before David Warner and Glenn Maxwell posted a record fourth-wicket partnership of 161 but were both dismissed to set up a thrilling, last-ball finish.
Chris Morris had Maxwell caught on the cover boundary with the fifth ball of the penultimate over to leave Kagiso Rabada 11 to defend. Rabada started with a full straight delivery which Warner missed as he cleared the front leg to swing across the line, bowling him off his pad to put South Africa in the pound seat.
Then a message came from the dugout, which seemed to instruct Rabada to bowl outside off stump but he went too wide. The extra ball cost two runs as Faulkner drove down the ground and the boundary was saved. Rabada tried that line again but was again too wide and again the follow up went for two.
That left Australia needing five runs off the last three and Rabada refused to go wide again, keeping it full and straight. Faulkner drove down the ground again and pushed for a second. Mitchell Marsh would have been run out but the throw from Farhaan Behardien was limp. An inside edge for one from Faulkner left Marsh to hit the winning runs and he copied his partner by bunting the ball down the ground. David Miller swooped in but could not pick up cleanly and Marsh and Faulkner ran two to end Australia's losing streak.
The stand between Warner and Maxwell was Australia's highest in T20 for any wicket and came after South Africa made three early strikes that threatened to render the contest one-sided. Rabada bowled Aaron Finch with a pinpoint yorker in the first over, then took a spectacular one-handed catch at third man to give the returning Dale Steyn his first wicket of 2016, that of Steven Smith. Unlike Rabada, Steyn held his length back and a second short ball in his second over had Shane Watson, who looked scratchy for the half-hour he was at he crease, smartly caught by JP Duminy, over his shoulder at point.
Warner took on the short ball while Maxwell targeted David Wiese, who soon lost his lines. Wiese started off bowling length, then went full and then short. Even though everything he did was punished, Faf du Plessis kept him on while using Imran Tahir at the other end.
Instead of allowing the spinner to control proceedings, as Australia have been doing over the last few games, Warner was aggressive against Tahir, who finished with 0 for 47. He threw his hands at Tahir, opting for brute force over finesse and succeeded. Every boundary scored off Tahir's bowling - three fours and three sixes - was scored by Warner, while Maxwell meted out similar punishment to Wiese. Maxwell plundered five fours and three sixes off Wiese, who finished with the most expensive figures of his 16-match T20I career.
By the time Steyn came back on, Australia were well set on 150 for 3 and needed 55 runs off the last five overs. Steyn's third over gave them 10 of those runs. Without Kyle Abbott to turn to, du Plessis called on Morris, whose third over cost 16 and included two wides and a no-ball. Steyn pulled it back a touch with a final over of 10 to leave Morris and Rabada with 18 to defend off the last two.
Morris bowled an impressive last over, in which he gave away seven runs and took the wicket of Maxwell, who holed out in a rush to end things, and Rabada would have been confident of the 11 runs at his disposal in the last over.
Bar the extras, he would have been successful in defending it. Instead, South Africa were left to rue an untidy performance in the field - they bowled eight wides and two no-balls - and wonder if they could have got a few more runs with the bat.
Their innings seemed set for a score well over 200 even though they lost AB de Villiers early. Quinton de Kock and du Plessis put on 62 for the second wicket, scoring at more than 10 an over, but just as de Kock was getting going he inside-edged a Faulkner full toss on to his stumps.
That gave Australia the opportunity to pull South Africa back and they did. JP Duminy made just 14 before David Miller, the hero of the Durban victory, realised it was time to accelerate and took 20 runs off the 15th over, bowled by the debutant Ashton Agar, which included sending the ball into the crowd twice. But then he found long off to give Agar his first T20I wicket.
Faulkner bowled astutely, finishing with 3 for 28 on his return from injury, and with Behardien and Morris unable to get going, du Plessis was left to go it alone at the end. He had worked his way to 41 off 30 balls, thanks largely to piercing the gaps in the Powerplay but with three overs left, had to look for more.
He found the boundary twice off Josh Hazlewood's last over to bring up fifty off 33 balls, hit Faulkner for six in the 19th and then helped take 26 of the last over, bowled by John Hastings, which included a sequence of 4-6-6-4. South Africa had scored 51 runs in the last three overs, which included Wiese six off the last ball that tipped them over 200, but it proved not to be enough.
3rd T20
South Africa 178/4 (20/20 ov)
Australia 181/4 (19.2/20 ov)
Australia won by 6 wickets (with 4 balls remaining)
Hashim Amla's career-best 97 not out was not enough for South Africa to secure a series victory as Australia squeezed with spin and then attacked the opposition's slower bowlers to claim a 2-1 win in the T20I decider at Newlands.
The result means that the same puzzle that has faced South Africa all summer remains unsolved. Their middle-order is still missing some reliability and they have yet to decide who to anoint as their fifth bowler.
Australia, on the other hand, have answered some of their own questions. They found an opening combination that worked, their captain contributed a vital innings, and they were successful against spin on a surface that South Africa had asked to resemble a sub-continent strip as far as possible.
While run-scoring had stuttered during the women's match that preceded this one, Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla scotched any notions of sluggish track with fluency from the outset. In AB de Villiers' absence, both seemed eager to impress for the opening spot in India and took turns taking the initiative.
De Kock opened with two finesse-laced flicks off Nathan Coulter-Nile, whose line was initially too straight. Amla responded with impressive footwork to send Shane Watson to opposite ends of the ground. South Africa raced to 47 after four overs and were threatening to run away with it when de Kock threw his bat at a full delivery and John Hastings took a smart catch at third man.
That only seemed to spur Amla on even more. He unleashed a powerful pull to Coulter-Nile's next ball and then got away with a top edge that carried for six to force another bowling change. James Faulkner was the fourth bowler used in the Powerplay and Amla drilled him for back-to-back boundaries to take South Africa to the second highest total in the six-over period at Newlands, 68 for 1.
Adam Zampa came on immediately after the fielding restrictions were lifted and bowled the first boundary-free over the innings. That meant Faf du Plessis had not got in on the action at all and, in his haste to join in, he misread a Watson slower ball and spooned a catch to short mid-wicket.
While Amla bided his time, Rilee Rossouw was kept quiet by Zampa and Glenn Maxwell - and Zampa should have had him caught on the mid-wicket boundary when he was on three only for Maxwell to spill the catch. Amla reached his fifty off 31 balls and seemed content to rotate the strike during the squeeze.
In the five overs that followed the Powerplay, Australia conceded just 25 runs to put the onus back on Amla to get things going. He took on Zampa and Maxwell, finding a boundary in each of their next overs. When Rossouw tried to do the same off Coulter-Nile, he failed, gifting a catch to Steve Smith at long-off.
South Africa promoted David Miller above JP Duminy and his quick-fire 30 took the pressure off Amla. It also denied him a century. Amla entered the final over on 84, hit a six off the first ball and then took a single to put Miller on strike. Miller ran two and then sent a full toss to cover but did not run to leave Amla off strike. Amla duly struck the last ball of the innings for six but had to settle for 97 not out.
In the end, South Africa had needed a little more than just those three runs. The Sydney team-mates, Usman Khawaja and Shane Watson, got Australia off to a solid start before Steve Smith and David Warner guided them to the finish.
Australia's openers took on the short ball which Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada and Kyle Abbott were all generous in serving up. Although Australia's Powerplay was not as explosive as South Africa's - they scored 51 runs in the six overs - it set them up. Australia changed tack when the fielding restrictions were lifted and targeted the spin instead, with good results and a touch of luck.
Watson dispatched Imran Tahir's second ball over mid-wicket but, when he tried to hit him down the ground, Watson should have been caught. David Miller at long-off spilled the chance. Watson was not deterred by that and sent the last ball of that over into the stands.
The plan continued into Tahir's next over, when Watson tried to go straight down the ground again. He should have been caught again off the first ball but, between Miller at long-off du Plessis at cover, they could not decide who should take it. He was caught off the next ball, however, playing the same shot, and Tahir struck again in the same over when Khawaja joined in on the strategy. He tried a sweep but got as far as Amla at deep square-leg.
South Africa worked their way back into contention but instead of turn to a strike bowler, du Plessis brought Duminy on. Australia paid him some respect at first - Smith instead turned his attention to Tahir, hitting him for the straightest six of the match, before taking on Duminy as well.
Steyn was brought back on to try and break the partnership but Smith and Warner were seeing the ball too well. Warner was particularly severe on Wiese, whose pace off the ball approach did not work, and with 47 needed from the last six overs, the sting was taken out of the contest.
Neither Smith nor Warner hung around to finish but they'd done enough. Maxwell whittled the requirements down to 12 off 12 and Mitchell Marsh hit the winning runs with four balls to spare.
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