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
