Albie Morkel and Mark Boucher took South Africa to a four wicket victory over Australia in the first Standard Bank Pro20 match at a packed Wanderers Stadium on Friday night.

Chasing 167 to win, South Africa reached the target with four balls in hand.

The South African run chase was interrupted just after it began when one bank of floodlights suddenly went out, causing an 18 minute delay in play while the problem was sorted out.

Herschelle Gibbs appeared undeterred, however, as he smashed James Harwood for six almost as soon as play was resumed. But bright as his innings looked, it did not last long, with debutant Brett Geeves taking a wicket with his first delivery. Gibbs was caught at cover by Ricky Ponting for 19.

Geeves also took a wicket with the first ball of his second over, when he bowled AB de Villiers for seven runs.

Hashim Amla was next to go, bowled by David Hussey for 26, and James Hopes bowled JP Duminy for 21. When Vaughn van Jaarsveld was bowled by David Hussey four balls later, South Africa were in trouble on 83 for five, but Morkel and Boucher brought them right back into the game, with a partnership of 58 off 33 balls.

Geeves, who must have thought Twenty20 cricket was a piece of cake after his fairytale start, came down to earth with a bump when his third over went for 17 runs.

There was another wobble when Mitchell Johnson came in to bowl his last over. Morkel tried to hit him out of the ground, and David Hussey came running in from the long-off boundary to take a very good catch.

Morkel was out for 37, with South Africa still needing 25 runs off 17 balls.

Boucher was joined by captain Johan Botha and they took South Africa through to victory, with Boucher ending undefeated on 36, including two fours off the first two balls of the last over, bowled by Geeves, to win the match.

Earlier, David Hussey blasted 88 off 44 balls to take Australia to 166 for seven. Hussey and David Warner shared a third wicket stand of 54 off 36 balls, before Robin Peterson took the first of his three wickets, catching Warner for 38 off his own bowling.

The following ball saw Michael Hussey run out by Botha without scoring. Peterson struck again with the last ball of the over, when Morkel caught Brad Haddin on the long-off boundary for nought.

Hussey and Cameron White put on 45 for the sixth wicket, with Peterson capturing his third wicket when White was well caught at deep mid-wicket by JP Duminy for 16.

Mitchell Johnson, who scored a blistering century in the third Test match in Cape Town, hitting 123 not out off 103 balls, did not fare so well in the shorter form of the game, scoring just 10 runs before he was bowled by Wayne Parnell.

Peterson finished with figures of three for 30, while Dale Steyn, who went wicketless, was the most expensive bowler, going for 44 runs off his four overs.

South Africa, who lost both Twenty20 matches in Australia, will be buoyed by their victory ahead of the second Pro20 match at Supersport Park on Sunday evening. The five-match one-day international series starts at Kingsmead in Durban next Friday.

Sapa

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