Australia vs South Africa, 1st ODI - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Australia were done by spin tonight on a wicket which was quite conducive to spinners. We move to Mackay for the rest of the series. Remains to be seen how the pitch plays there. We will be there to bring you all the action from the 2nd game which starts on the 22nd. Till then take care and be well. See you for now. Bye.

Temba Bavuma: Good all-round performance. We think we did a good job with the bat, the wicket was slow and two-paced. We tried to adapt and the bowlers came on and did their job. Not a bad toss to lose. I wasn't expecting it to turn as much. Kesh showed his class, well supported by the other bowlers too. (bringing spin on) The boys made me look good with that decision, with the experience against Australia, the guys at the top like the ball coming on and we had weapons in the spin, today it came good for us. I got to stay at the crease, young Matthew Breetzke as well, our conversation was the wicket was not going to get any easier, we wanted to get around the 300 mark. Even the stats say that anything over 240 makes us competitive.

Mitch Marsh: Keshav is an outstanding bowler, little bit more spin than we expected. Not a lack of confidence, we have played spin well as a group. He bowled well and got some crucial wickets. (for the next game) We will look at the conditions and make a decision based on that.

Keshav Maharaj | Player of the Match: I made my debut in 2016 in Australia. Tried to utilise the conditions, wicket was sticky and tried to utilise and got the reward. The boys spoke about it in the T20s, there was a little bit of turn and my life got a bit easier as Prenelan got the first wicket and he bowled well on debut. We have always been slow starters in series, it's nice to put the front foot forward. Good batting display and quite clinical with the ball.

Stats by Deepu Narayanan

Most wickets by spinners in an ODI in Australia
12 Aus vs Pak Adelaide 1996
11 Aus vs Pak Sydney 1997
11 Aus vs SA Cairns 2025

Five-fers by SA spinners (ODI)
7/45 Imran Tahir vs WI Basseterre 2016
6/24 Imran Tahir vs Zim Bloemfontein 2018
5/21 Nicky Boje vs Aus Cape Town 2002
5/33 Keshav Maharaj vs Aus Cairns 2025
5/45 Imran Tahir vs WI Sydney 2015
5/49 Tabraiz Shamsi vs SL Colombo RPS 2021

Australia vs spin in completed ODIs in 2025
8/115 vs SL Colombo RPS
7/69 vs SL Colombo RPS
2/120 vs Eng Lahore
5/175 vs Ind Dubai
6/114 vs SA Cairns

98 runs - biggest win by runs for South Africa against Australia in ODIs in Australia - Previous biggest: 82 runs in Perth 1994

21:22 Local Time, 11:22 GMT, 16:52 IST: South Africa with a dominant win to take a 1-0 lead. The spinners were key on this pitch. Much more than what the teams expected. Head with a four-fer in the first innings and then Australia raced to 60-0 before Maharaj came on and caused all sorts of havoc. Soon Australia slipped to 89/6 with Maharaj taking a fifer. He had the ball on a string and was on a roll. Subrayen supported him well and soon Bavuma turned to Markram with the pitch spinning and Australia struggling. Marsh was at the other end and seeing all this, he found an able ally in Dwarshuis and as the ball got softer, the duo added 71 for the 7th wicket before Burger broke the stand. Marsh was the last hope for Australia but he fell to Burger and the inevitable followed as Ngidi cleaned up the last two wickets. Deserving win for South Africa. Stay tuned for the post-match stuff...

Ngidi to Zampa, out Bowled!! All over. Ngidi ends things. That slower-ball off-cutter again, full and Zampa gets forward to loft, thin inside-edge goes back on to the stumps. Ngidi is elated. South Africa go 1-0 up. Zampa b Ngidi 11(18) [4s-1]

Ngidi to Zampa, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!

Ngidi to Zampa, no run, full and angled in on off, Zampa gets forward to push to cover

Ngidi to Hazlewood, 1 run, that dipping slower-ball off-cutter, Hazlewood is nearly done here, plonks the bat and it hits the thick inside-edge on the full, rolls to square-leg

Josh Hazlewood, left handed bat, comes to the crease

Ngidi to Nathan Ellis, out Lbw!! Given out LBW and Nathan Ellis is happy to walk off. No reviews left for Australia. This looks to be missing leg-stump. And yes it is. But Australia have no reviews left. It's a slower-ball off-cutter and cuts back in, Ellis misses the pull, hit on the back thigh, but impact too is marginal and clearly missing leg-stump. Stayed a bit low and that defeated the shot. The umpire is happy to raise the finger. Ngidi is all smiles. Nathan Ellis lbw b Ngidi 14(20) [4s-1 6s-1]

Ngidi to Nathan Ellis, THATS OUT!! Lbw!!

Ngidi to Zampa, 1 run, short of length outside off, Zampa goes on the back foot and punches, Stubbs now fumbles at cover, gives away the single

Subrayen to Nathan Ellis, SIX, mid-off is in and Nathan Ellis takes the aggressive route. He steps out and gets to the pitch of the ball, takes it on the half-volley, lofts cleanly and it's a flat six to the long-off fence

Subrayen to Zampa, 1 run, good length and flat outside off, Zampa goes on the back foot and punches to long-on