Darwin, Aug 12 (IANS) After not matching the Australian firepower in the first game, South Africa roared back to level the series 1-1 in style, with an emphatic 57-run win at the Marrara Cricket Ground here on Tuesday. The defeat is Australia’s second-highest margin loss in T20Is and also the hosts’ first defeat in the format in 10 games.

South Africa’s total of 218/7 was largely enabled by the power hitting on display by Dewald Brevis (125*) as the young batter smashed his first T20I century, the second fastest and youngest to do so in Proteas history. He also surpassed Faf Du Plessis for the highest score in this format by a South African.

Skipper Aiden Markram (18) and Ryan Rickelton (14) looked set on the crease before the latter, while attempting to pull Ben Dwarshuis holed out to Tim David.

Markram soon followed as Glenn Maxwell baited the skipper into coming down the pitch and was caught by Mitchell Owen. The Australian allrounder claimed his second of the day thanks to solid keeping behind the stumps by Alex Carey, to send Lhuan-dre Pretorius (10) packing.

Brevis and Tristian Stubbs (31) put on a 126-run stand for the fourth wicket, with the former taking on the brunt of scoring runs. He reached his fifty in 25 balls before accelerating to a century in just 41.

In the end, it was Adam Zampa who provided the breakthrough in the form of Stubbs. Rassie van der Dussen (5), Corbin Bosch (0), and Kagiso Rabada (5) failed to add significant runs to the scoreboard, but Brevis’ 12 boundaries and eight maximums saw the Proteas end at 218/7.

Although Australia’s heavy hitting has been on full flow recently, their reliability came under question in the first T20I, and doubts will continue to linger after the second T20I.

Travis Head (5) and Cameron Green (9) were dismissed by Markram and Kwena Maphaka, respectively. While Tim David (50) continued his hot run of form with another half-century, skipper Mitchell Marsh (22) looked to be in good rhythm before falling to Corbin Bosch.

Kagiso Rabada struck with the all-important scalp when David was unable to clear the fielder at cover.

Although a mountain of a chase remained, it was not until Maphaka struck twice with the wickets of Glenn Maxwell (16) and Mitchell Owen (8) that the game started to slip away from the hosts. Brevis completed a smart catch while stumbling towards the ground to dismiss Carey (26) off Nqabayomzi Peter.

From there on, Proteas did not make much of a fuss in cleaning the lower order with Dwarshuis (12), Sean Abbott (1), and Adam Zampa (0) falling in quick succession.

Brief scores:

South Africa 218/7 in 20 overs (Dewald Brevis 125*, Tristian Stubbs 31; Ben Dwarshuis 2-24, Glenn Maxwell 2-44) beat Australia 165 all out in 17.4 overs (Tim David 50; Corbin Bosch 3-20, Kwena Maphaka 3-57) by 53 runs

–IANS

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