Australia go down to South Africa

South Africa versus Australia is always going to be a humdinger and there couldn't have been a better stage for it than a sunny Supersport Park in Centurion - even if it was just for a warm-up game. With the South African rugby team scheduled to start their campaign at the IRB World Cup in France at the same time on Sunday, the passion and interest in the SA-Aussie rivalry on the cricket field was evidenced by the sell-out crowd in Centurion, who chose to watch this warm-up match rather than staying at home in front of their TV screens.





And the two teams considered favourites in this tournament certainly didn't disappoint the home crowd who saw their team winning by eight wickets. Like in their warm-up game against New Zealand on Saturday, it was a bit of a shaky start for the Australians who are still missing captain Ricky Ponting and were sent into bat by his SA counterpart Graeme Smith who won the toss.

Shaun Pollock opened the bowling for the home side with an impressively tight over with only one run coming from it. But it was his second over that saw the former captain taking two wickets in as many balls to dismiss both Adam Gilchrist (for nine) and Brad Haddin. That brought talented all-rounder Andrew Symonds to the crease with the score on 18-2 but it wasn't long before batting partner Brad Hodge was sent packing.

This time it was Makhaya Ntini who was in on the action, scooping the ball up off his own bowling and diving for the stumps to run out Hodge for six with the Australians now in trouble on 21-3. Pollock opened the following over on a hat-trick ball but this was safely guided down to backward point by Symonds for a single.

The burly all-rounder continued to anchor the Aussie innings from then on and together with Michael Hussey ensured that the run-rate remained high. Just when it looked like a threatening partnership could be developing, however, Hussey scooped an easy catch to AB de Villiers and departed for 14 at the end of the ninth over. But Symonds continued to do the damage before falling victim to Johan van der Wath off his first delivery of the innings. It was another easy catch (this time to Ntini) that saw him go for 45 (off 26), bringing Brad Hogg in to bat.

Matthew Hayden was next to go, for 18, after having his stumps rearranged by rookie Vernon Philander in his first over and Brett Lee didn't last too long, scoring just 11 runs, but despite the regular fall of wickets the Australians kept the runs coming. Hogg made28 before being bowled by Morne Morkel and Mitchell Johnson's 30 off 12 balls and a quickfire 11 off six from Nathan Bracken, saw the Aussies finishing on 179-8.

Set with a target of nine runs an over for the win, the South African openers, Smith and Herschelle Gibbs, came out firing from the start and reached the end of the fifth over with 46 runs on the board. The following over saw Gibbs being clean bowled by Ben Hilfenhaus (in the Aussie lineup as a replacement for the injured Shaun Tait) for 20.

AB de Villiers picked up from where the big-hitting Gibbs left off, however, joining his captain in keeping the home crowd happy by passing the boundary with impressive regularity. De Villiers blitzed 65 off just 35 balls before hitting a Bracken delivery straight to extra cover where Hodge took the catch. JP Duminy then came with South Africa only requiring 10 runs for the victory. These were knocked off easily with Smith smashing a four to win the match by eight wickets.

Though unofficial, as this was a warm-up game, the captain's 89 not out (off just 61 balls) equals his highest total in Twenty20 Internationals which he scored against the same opposition, in a match which the Proteas won by just two runs back in February last year. Although the outcome of this match was relatively meaningless, any form of victory over the Australians will give the home side a massive confidence boost ahead of their opening game of the tournament against the West Indies in Johannesburg on Tuesday.