Keshav Maharaj delivers a five-star spell to spin Proteas to comprehensive victory Down Under

AFTER being left out of the Proteas squad for the T20I series, Keshav Maharaj arrived in Australia determined to show he remains a force to be reckoned with in white-ball cricket. 

Despite being 35-years-old already, he stressed that he still wanted to be a “match-winner” for the Proteas across all three formats. 

Well, the newly-crowned SA Cricketer of the Year certainly sent a timely reminder that he wants to be part of the conversations going forward with a career-best maiden five-wicket haul in Cairns on Tuesday night. 

In the unfamiliar spin-friendly conditions, Maharaj spun a web around the Australia middle-order to claim 5/33 as the hosts’ pursuit of the Proteas’ 296/8 collapsed in an almighty heap.

Australia had stormed to 60 without loss in just seven overs, but proceeded to lose 6/29 in the midst of Maharaj’s wizardry.

It was, however, debutant Prenelan Subrayen (1/46) that precipitated the collapse after flummoxing Travis Head (27 off 24 balls) through the air to allow Ryan Rickleton to whip off the bails. 

From thereon it was lone vigil from Australian captain Mitchell Marsh (88 off 96 balls) that stood in the Proteas’ path of seizing a 1-0 lead in the series as wickets tumbled regularly at the other end.

Marnus Labuschagne was beaten with a delivery that gripped and straightened as Maharaj had the white ball on a string.

The veteran spinner produced a ripping turner to clean bowl Cameron Green with a delivery that whizzed past his outside edge before dismissing Josh Hardie and Alex Carey with successive balls.

Maharaj was not done yet though as he produced another beauty to clean bowl Alex Hardie to leave Australia reeling at 89/6. 

"I tried to utilise the conditions, the wicket was sticky and tried to utilise and got the reward," Maharaj said.

"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."

There was no way back for the hosts with Marsh eventually falling to Nandre Burger (2/54) which left the tail exposed for Lungi Ngidi (2/28) to complete the mopping up job. 

Earlier, the Proteas batters had posted a competitive total through half-centuries from Aiden Markram, captain Temba Bavuma and Matthew Breetzke.

Markram (82 off 81 balls) had looked destined for his first white-ball century since the 2023 World Cup but gave away the three-figure score with a deft touch behind to Inglis. 

Bavuma (65) and Breetzke (57), though, maintained the momentum without any great risk as their 92-run partnership for the third wicket enabled the Proteas to post a total that proved overly sufficient on the night. 

"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," said Bavuma.

"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. 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."

First ODI, Cairns

South Africa: 296/8 (Markram 82, Bavuma 65, Breetzke 57, Head 4/57) 

Australia: 198 all out (Marsh 88, Dwarhuis 33, Maharaj 5/33, Ngidi 2/26)

South Africa won by 98 runs, lead series 1-0