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Mitchell Marsh’s Australia began the three-match T20I series against South Africa at home in some style as they registered an 18-run win in the first T20I on Sunday in Darwin. Tim David’s 83-run knock mixed with Josh Hazlewood’s three-wicket haul helped the hosts register a comfortable victory to go 1-0 up in the series. As a result of this win, Australia registered their ninth victory on the bounce in the shortest format.
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This is Australia’s longest winning streak in T20Is. However, Afghanistan and India are still ahead of them in the list of most consecutive victories in T20Is by a full member nation. Both India and Afghanistan had won 12 T20Is in a row. However, the biggest winning streak in T20Is belongs to Uganda as they had won 17 games in a row.
Earlier, Pakistan and New Zealand had also registered a winning streak of nine consecutive games. On the other hand, England highest winning streak stretches eight T20Is.
Australia entered the three-match series against South Africa on the back of a 5-0 win against the West Indies in the Caribbean. The Proteas were expected to pose a serious challenge to Australia. However, the hosts had no problem brushing the challenge aside in the series opener.
This victory over the Proteas was also Australia’s sixth win in a row against South Africa in T20Is.
Speaking about the ninth victory on the bounce, Mitchell Marsh at the post-match presentation said, “I didn’t know that till you said it at the toss. You see that across teams in T20 cricket, they keep going and going. It is more about backing your execution than letting the game dictate.”
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“There are times when conditions will need you to bat through, but we certainly want guys like David to come out and bat the way he did; he was the difference. It was an outstanding effort from all our bowlers to keep us in the game and win it in the end,” he added.
Australia go from 75/6 to 178
At one stage, Australia were reeling at 75/6 in the first T20I. But Tim David found support in Ben Dwarshius as the duo put on 59 runs for the seventh wicket. Tim David eventually walked back to the hut after scoring 83 runs.
Josh Hazlewood was then the star of the show with the ball in hand as he returned with three wickets. Tristan Stubbs and Ryan Rickelton tried their best to help South Africa stage a comeback, but it wasn’t meant to be.
Australia and South Africa will now square off in the second T20I on Tuesday at the same venue.
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