Australia’s battery of bowlers had a productive outing on day one of their warm-up match as they bowled out South Africa A for 220 in Benoni.
They were 87-3 at the close, with Duanne Olivier, perhaps celebrating his new contract with Derbyshire, removing Usman Khawaja (22) and Peter Handscomb (0) in one over. Malusi Siboto then sent back the prolific captain Steve Smith, who was caught behind after smashing 23 off 24 balls.
Captain Khaya Zondo elected to bat first and Theunis de Bruyn and Zubayr Hamza quickened the pulse when they put on 82 for the second wicket after the loss of Pieter Malan for eight. De Bruyn was particularly aggressive, hitting six fours, two of them successively off Josh Hazlewood, in the 43 balls he faced for his 46.
While Pat Cummins had made the early breakthrough, it was Hazlewood who first found his length to suit the conditions, dismissing De Bruyn, and following that with Hamza (for a gritty 44 off 89, with four sixes) and Zondo (3) in successive overs.
The Australians had brought their A team: Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Cummins and Hazlewood, who between them took all 87 wickets to fall in the Ashes series against England. They added Mitchell Marsh for good measure.
The rest of the South Africa A team were unable to put up much of a resistance, although there were encouraging stands of 44 and 40, which Senuran Muthusamy (36) shared with Rudi Second (21) and Wiaan Mulder (29) respectively. But Cummins got into rhythm to take 4-32 as the South Africans folded for 220.
Photo: Johan Pretorius/Gallo Images
