Rickelton's fifty and Mika's 4 wickets went in vain, Australia defeated South Africa in a thrilling match

Australia defeated South Africa by 17 runs in the first game of the three-match T20 International series on the back of its bowlers at the Darwin Ground. This is Australia's record 9th successive win in T20 International cricket. With this, Australia has gained a 1-0 advantage in the series. Now the second game between the two teams will be contested on the same venue on August 12.

The Australian team batted first and made 178 runs, losing all their wickets in the allotted 20 overs. Chasing the score of 179 runs, the South African team managed to make only 161 runs for 9 wickets in the allotted 20 overs. Ryan Rickelton scored a brilliant 71 runs in 55 balls with 7 fours and 1 six for South Africa, which is his second half-century in his T20 international career. However, despite this brilliant half-century innings, Ryan Rickelton could not help his team win. Apart from him, Tristan Stubbs contributed 37 runs for South Africa, but the remaining batsmen could not perform well. Josh Hazlewood and Ben Dwarshis took 3-3 wickets for Australia, while Adam Jampa got 2 wickets.

Earlier, the Australian team, who came to bat first after losing the toss, were all out after scoring 178 runs in the stipulated 20 overs. The Australian team did not have a good start, and the team was struggling at one time after losing six wickets for 75 runs. In such a situation, Tim David took the team's score beyond 150 while handling one end. During this, he got out after scoring a brilliant 83 runs with 4 fours and 8 sixes in 52 balls. He scored his 7th half-century of T20 international career. For South Africa, Kwena Mphaka took 4 wickets for 20 runs in 4 overs. At the age of 19 years and 124 days, Kwena Mphaka has become the youngest bowler of a full member country to take four wickets in T20 international cricket. Kagiso Rabada took 2 wickets.