Abbott, Rossouw star as SA stun Australia

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

“NOT much thinking goes on; it’s just about playing.” With that, JP Duminy captured the kernel of his team’s stunning performance in the first T20 against Australia in Adelaide on Wednesday.

First, Kyle Abbott delivered a demon spell to take 3/21 and Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock and Duminy punctuated a rasping fielding display by taking fine catches. That limited Australia to 145/3.

Then SA, after losing debutant Reeza Hendricks to the third ball of their reply, knocked off the target with seven wickets standing and an over to spare.

A second-wicket stand of 129 between De Kock and Rilee Rossouw got most of the job done. De Kock’s 46 flew off 39 balls, but for once he was upstaged - Rossouw drilled his 78 off 50 deliveries, three of them smacked to the boundary and seven over it.

Abbott’s figures were his best in his three T20Is, while Rossouw played his first match for SA in the format. Their success in the face of their inexperience was not lost on Duminy.

“It’s great to see the youngsters come through,” he said. “Losing a wicket in the first over, you feel 145 is a long away away. But the positivity they played with was great to watch. Russell (Domingo) calls it ‘the exuberance of youth’.”

That was especially apparent in the field, where even the geezer of the side, 35-year-old Imran Tahir, responded to dropping a catch in the deep offered by Cameron White off Abbott with the fourth delivery of the match by throwing himself around the park with vigour every time the ball sought him out.

But Tahir’s error was lost in the slew of chances the Australians spilled. One of them came in the third over of SA’s innings when Rossouw, on seven, slashed a delivery from Doug Bollinger high over point. Another debutant, but one who turns 30 on Saturday, Nathan Reardon, set off after the dipping ball.

“We said we needed a little bit of luck in this game,” Rossouw said. “As it got to him I was praying, and going, ‘Prrst! Prrst! Drop it! Miss it! Please!’.”

Despite his innings on Wednesday, Rossouw is best known for suffering four ducks in his first four ODI innings.

“Even though I’ve been through some rough times, I can always lean on someone and ask for help,” Rossouw said. “The team is always there for me; that’s how I’ve stayed positive.

Duminy delivered a resounding verbal slap on Rossouw’s back: “We’ve all had hard times, especially at this level. It’s tough to get yourself up when things are going badly for you.

“It was exceptional to see the freedom he played with. We spoke about somebody getting a 75 for us and he was the man.”

Wednesday’s result all but obliterated memories of SA’s loss to a young Cricket Australia XI in a T20 tour match in Sydney on Sunday.

Another performance like Wednesday’s in Melbourne on Friday, and Duminy and the kids - and Tahir - will have a series win in their kitbags.