Filed under AUSvSA T20 in SA 2009

Match : Australia vs South Africa, 2nd T20 match in 2009 tour.
Venue/Date : Supersport park in Centurion in South Africa.. 29 March 2009.
Debuts : Roelof van der Merwe & Yusuf Abdulla (both South Africa) and Ben Laughlin (Australia).
Toss : Australia, elected to field first.
Result : South Africa won by 17 runs.
Series Result : South won series 2-0.
Man of the match : Roelof van der Merwe.
Umpires : M Erasmus and Brain Jerling (both local umpires).
Head to head : This was 6th Australia vs South Africa twenty20 International, and now both teams are locked 3-3.

Not that we didn't have fun in the 1st T20 at Johannesburg couple of days back which fluctuated right till the last over, we had even better second twenty20 match today at Centurion, the first one at the venue where pendulum swung both ways until the end.

Invited in to bat first, South Africans went off at rocket speed with Herschelle Gibbs chancing his arms. But Gibbs thriller came to end inside 13 balls which allowed Aussies bowlers to decelerate home team considerably. South Africans found an unlikely hero in debutant Rudolf van der Merwe, who came close to making fastest half century for South Africa in this shortest format of cricket, but got out on 48 off 30 balls. Robin Petersen was given the opportunity to open the innings and his 27 ball 34 helped Africans to healthy looking 156 in their 20 overs.

Australian chase began with calm. They knew they didn't have a large total to chase, and Warner-Clarke pair went about confidently as two debutant fast bowlers started African new ball bowling = Johan Louw and Yusuf Abdulla. Latter, the left hander seamer Abdulla, impressed one and all with his variation in pace & slower deliveries. David Warner left after few lusty hits but Michael Clarke hardly hit anything with authority in his 33 ball 27.

South African spinner, van der Merwe and captain Johan Botha ate with Aussie middle order for few runs from which they never recovered.

Australia vs South Africa, 2nd T20, Johannesburg : 29 March 2009 : Scorecard
South Africa (invited in to bat) = 156 for 5 wickets in 20 overs
Robin Peterson		b Hopes	34	27 balls, 3x4, 2x6
Herschelle Gibbs		b Bracken	20	13 balls, 1x4, 1x6
AB de Villiers	c White	b Laughlin	0	5 balls
JP Duminy		b Harwood	23	28 balls, 1x4
Rudolf der Merwe	c Haddin	b Harwood	48	30 balls, 2x4, 4x6
Albie Morkel	not out		14*	10 balls, 1x4, 1x6
Mark Boucher	not out		9*	8 balls, 1x6
Johan Botha
Justin Ontong
Yusuf Abdulla
Johan Louw
Nathan Bracken = 4-0-44-1 (2wd)		Shane Harwood = 4-0-21-2
Ben Laughlin = 4-0-32-1 (1wd)		James Hopes = 4-0-26-1
David Hussey = 3-0-24-0		Cameron White = 1-0-6-0 (1wd)
Australia (target=157 in 20 ovs) = 139 for 8 wickets in 20 overs
Michael Clarke		b Botha	27	33 balls, 2x4
David Warner		b Morkel	20	15 balls, 2x4, 1x6
Ricky Ponting	c Boucher	b Abdulla	1	3 balls
David Hussey	c Gibbs	b Merwe	27	18 balls, 3x4, 1x6
Cullum Fergusson	run out	(Duminy)	0	1 ball
Cameron White	c Duminy	b Botha	23	22 balls, 2x4, 1x6
Brad Haddin	not out	b Johnson	16*	13 balls, 1x6
James Hopes	c Morkel	b Louw	18	15 balls, 1x6
Nathan Bracken	c de Villiers	b Louw	0	1 ball
Shane Harwood	not out		0	0 ball
Ben Laughlin	did not bat
Johan Louw = 4-0-36-2 (1nb)		Yusuf Abdulla = 3-0-16-1 (2wd)
Albie Morkel = 3-0-24-1 (1wd)		Rudolf van Merwe = 4-0-30-1
Johan Botha = 4-0-16-2		Robin Peterson = 2-0-16-0
South Africa won by 17 runs, and won the 2 T20 series 2-0 as well. ODI series next.

Preview : Australia vs South Africa : T20 match : 27 & 29 March 2009.

Scorecard : Aus v SA, 1st T20, Johannesburg : 27 March 2009

1st T20 : Swinging pendulum finally rests South African side.

Scorecard : Aus v SA, 2nd T20, Centurion : 29 March 2009