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Cricket News - by Craig Hill

Johan Botha led his team from the front to guide South Africa to a 17-run victory over Australia in the second Twenty20 international in Pretoria.

The Proteas captain took 2-16 runs and was given good support from debutants Yusuf Abdullah (1-16) and Roelof van der Merwe (1-30), while Johann Louw (2-36) also chipped in as the visitors were limited to 8-139.

Van der Merwe also made a useful contribution with the bat, slamming 48 from only 30 deliveries as the hosts posted 5-156.

In response, the tourists raced to 37 from only four and a half overs before they were pegged back by Albie Morkel, who managed to outfox David Warner walking down the wicket and yorked him for 20.

One run later, Abdullah sent a slanting delivery across Ricky Ponting, tempting him to drive, but he only managed to edge behind to Mark Boucher.

Botha brought himself on and, after going for only two in his first over, came back and bowled Michael Clarke going for a powerful sweep with the first ball of his second for 27, before hesitation between new man Callum Ferguson and David Hussey led to the former being run out.

Needing 92 from 54 balls, Hussey briefly threatened to emulate his 88 from 44 balls at the Wanderers on Friday before he was eventually out for 27.

The score was 101 at the time and only five more runs were added before the fall of the next wicket - Cameron White slogging a Botha delivery straight to JP Duminy on the boundary for 23.

Louw then came in to bowl the final over with Australia needing 27 to win and he struck with his second ball - James Hopes miscuing a slower ball to Morkel at mid-wicket for 18.

Nathan Bracken (nought) then top-edged his fifth ball, leaving Brad Haddin unbeaten on 16 and Australia 17 runs short of victory.

Earlier, Titans all-rounder Van der Merwe's innings proved the highlight in front of his home crowd at Supersport Park, thumping four sixes and two fours in his 30-ball innings to help the South Africans post a decent total after they were kept in check by the Australian bowlers.

Shane Harwood (2-21) and Hopes (1-26) were largely responsible for that after Ponting had earlier won the toss and decided to bowl.

Gibbs and Robin Peterson, who was promoted to open the batting, made a decent start, taking the score to 22 before the former was out for 20.

Seven balls later, another debutant in Ben Laughlin struck in his first over of international cricket when De Villiers went hard at a wide delivery but only managed to pick out White at short cover for a duck.

Peterson and Duminy began to build nicely thereafter with a 47-run partnership before Peterson gave himself too much room on the leg side and was bowled by Hopes for 34.

Duminy then walked across his stumps looking to paddle-sweep but completely missed the ball and was bowled by Harwood for 23.

Morkel (14 not out) and Boucher (nine not out) tried their best to up the tempo but were restricted by the Australians.
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Australian captain Ricky Ponting was happy with the overall performance in the four-wicket loss to South Africa in the first Twenty20 international against South Africa, but not as pleased with the result.

The Aussies looked likely to win the match when the hosts needed 84 from 47 balls with only five wickets remaining.

However, Australia couldn't get the wickets it needed and South Africa won a thrilling encounter with just four balls to spare.

"I'm disappointed to lose the game, because we certainly got ourselves into a position in which we probably should have won," he said.

"That's what's the disappointing thing about it. If we hadn't gotten ourselves into that position then I wouldn't have been too disappointed."

"You want to win every game you play and we wanted to win tonight. We've trained well the last couple of days."

"We were a long way off our best cricket tonight, but the satisfying thing is that we had a very good chance to win the game."

Australia had several unfamiliar names in its team tonight, including Shane Harwood and Brett Geeves - who conceded 83 runs between them in 7.2 overs - and Ponting is hoping they can learn from the experience.

"Geeves and Harwood playing tonight, a couple of guys that have been the best performers in domestic cricket back in Australia, they deserved the opportunity to play," he added.

"Both would have learned a lot from the experience, they're bowling to good players on good wickets."

"It just goes to show in this game you've got to execute everything, almost perfectly as a bowler or you're going to go around the park."

"So, they'll learn a lot from that and the more games we can get into the younger guys, it's a chance for them to learn and for us it's a chance to learn more about them and the better off we'll obviously be."

Proteas captain Johan Botha was full of praise for Mark Boucher and Albie Morkel after they helped South Africa snatch the unlikely victory at the Wanderers.

Chasing 166, the Proteas looked well out of the game at 5-83 with just under eight overs remaining, before the pair put on 58 in five pulsating overs to edge the hosts closer to victory.

Morkel was eventually out for 37 off just 19 balls with the score on 141, but Boucher finished unbeaten on 36 to hand his side a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

Speaking afterwards, the captain was full of praise for his wicketkeeper, who has come under intense pressure in recent months following his lack of contribution with the bat.

But Botha said: "He's done it many times before and he just showed us again tonight that he's probably our best finisher with Albie."

"He deserves his place in the team and has a lot of input off the field as well which makes him very valuable."

Reflecting on Morkel's performance, he continued: "I think he showed us all summer how good he can be."

"With 62 off 30, a lot of teams will think they're out of it, but with our two guys that were still in, we knew we were still in it."

"They showed that at the end and Albie's bowling too is important. He's a world-class all-rounder."

Botha admitted that the victory, only their second in a total of five against the Australians, was very pleasing.

"It was a really good win tonight," he added. "It got a bit tight, but with those two out there we had hope.

"That's what they get paid for, the big bucks, because they do it under pressure and they did it again tonight. But with those two in and with a long way to go, we knew we still had a chance."

The two sides have a day's rest before doing battle again on Sunday (SA time) at SuperSport Park.
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