Australia beat South Africa to snap losing streak

Adelaide: All-rounder Marcus Stoinis took three wickets to fire Australia to a seven-run win over South Africa at the Adelaide Oval on Friday, ending the hosts' record seven-match losing streak and levelling the three-match series.

Aaron Finch's side will head to Sunday's decider in Hobart buoyed by Australia's first win in the short format since January and having delivered some badly needed cheer for the struggling cricket nation.

Sent in to bat, Australia's under-pressure batsmen again laboured against South Africa's formidable attack and were dismissed for 231 in the 49th over after squandering a number of starts.

But a lionhearted performance by Stoinis and the Australian pacemen ensured victory despite some belligerent hitting from South Africa's lower order.

Scoreboard

Australia 1st innings

Aaron Finch b Dwaine Pretorius 41

Travis Head lbw Lungi Ngidi 8

Shaun Marsh c Quinton de Kock b Kagiso Rabada 22

Chris Lynn c Quinton de Kock b Kagiso Rabada 44

Alex Carey c Quinton de Kock b Kagiso Rabada 47

Glenn Maxwell c Quinton de Kock b Dwaine Pretorius 15

Marcus Stoinis c Reeza Hendricks b Dwaine Pretorius 2

Pat Cummins b Dale Steyn 3

Mitchell Starc c&b Dale Steyn 6

Adam Zampa c David Miller b Kagiso Rabada 22

Josh Hazlewood Not Out 10

Extras 0b 9lb 0nb 0pen 2w 11

Total: 231 all out (48.3 overs)

Fall of Wickets: 1-12 Head, 2-66 Marsh, 3-96 Finch, 4-133 Lynn, 5-166 Maxwell, 6-170 Stoinis, 7-179 Cummins, 8-187 Starc, 9-204 Carey, 10-231 Zampa

Bowling Ov Md Rn Wk Econ Ex

Dale Steyn 10 1 31 2 3.10

Lungi Ngidi 9 0 67 1 7.44 2w

Kagiso Rabada 9.3 0 54 4 5.68

Dwaine Pretorius 10 0 32 3 3.20

Imran Tahir 10 1 38 0 3.80

South Africa 1st innings

Quinton de Kock c Adam Zampa b Mitchell Starc 9

Reeza Hendricks c Alex Carey b Josh Hazlewood 16

Aiden Markram Run Out Marcus Stoinis 19

Faf du Plessis b Pat Cummins 47

Heinrich Klaasen c Chris Lynn b Marcus Stoinis 14

David Miller lbw Marcus Stoinis 51

Dwaine Pretorius c Chris Lynn b Josh Hazlewood 14

Dale Steyn b Marcus Stoinis 3

Kagiso Rabada b Mitchell Starc 9

Lungi Ngidi Not Out 19

Imran Tahir Not Out 11

Extras 1b 0lb 0nb 0pen 11w 12

Total: 224-9 (50.0 overs)

Fall of Wickets: 1-18 de Kock, 2-46 Markram, 3-48 Hendricks, 4-68 Klaasen, 5-142 du Plessis, 6-174 Pretorius, 7-184 Steyn, 8-187 Miller, 9-202 Rabada

Bowling Ov Md Rn Wk Econ Ex

Mitchell Starc 10 1 51 2 5.10 5w

Josh Hazlewood 10 0 42 2 4.20 3w

Pat Cummins 10 0 27 1 2.70 2w

Adam Zampa 9 0 57 0 6.33

Marcus Stoinis 10 0 35 3 3.50 1w

Glenn Maxwell 1 0 11 0 11.00

Umpires: Gerard Abood and Michael Gough

Video: Aleem Dar

Match Referee: Jeffrey Crowe