Powered by George Bailey in the series opener, Australia registered a clinical 32 runs victory over South Africa at WACA on Thursday. The hosts were in total command of the proceedings right from the start and bundled the touring party for 268 in 48.1 overs.
South African skipper AB de Villiers, again, was the star for the touring party and made a mesmerizing 76-ball 80. But, as de Villiers was run out by super-sub Steven Smith, the Proteas resistance also came to an end.
“Reasonably happy with our bowling, taking early wickets was important,” Bailey said. “It would have been nice to finish it earlier but pretty happy with out bowling and fielding. Hope I get some sort of luck for the rest of my career as well after those dropped catches.”
“250 I think was what were looking at and then we kept adding, Maxi was in the shed and so was Coulter-Nile, all good strikers of the ball,” he added. “Nathan maybe thought our fielding was sloppy because he saw much more. I was too involved with the captaincy and we challenged ourselves after the second drinks break.”
Pacers Mitchell Johnson and Nathan Coulter-Nile were instrumental in Australia’s win, despite having a competitive total to defend on the board. Johnson ripped through the top-order, while Coulter-Nile wretched havoc with the old ball and took four wickets.
“We didn’t do well in all three depts.,” de Villiers said. “Our bowling was good at times but no consistency and we lost wickets at the wrong time. Very disappointing. We’ll have to fix our mistakes for the second game.”
“I’m not sure about the team changes right now, we’ll see that tomorrow,” he added. “[Run out with Steyn] has happened before, not our first time. He wasn’t sure and I was so he sent me back, no hard feelings.”
Earlier, Australia posted 300 runs on the board on a lively WACA pitch, courtesy fine knocks from Bailey (70) and David Warner (46). Openers Warner and Aaron Finch (35) provided a good platform to Australia and the middle-order capitalized on it.
“Mitch was bowling rockets so bowling was easier,” Coulter-Nile said. “Our first game back in the summer and were slightly lacklustre, sloppy in the field but it turned out pretty well.”
“Very good knock form George Bailey and it was a pretty good wicket,” he added. “The WACA pitch was a bit slower than usual.”
