Mitchell Starc uproots Quinton de Kock’s middle stump with a beauty in third T20I

Australia bagged their fourth T20I series on the trot when they beat South Africa by 97 runs in the third T20I of the three-game series at Newlands in Cape Town on Wednesday to make the scoreline 2-1. The Proteas won the toss and put the visitors into bat but made a mess of their chase of a target of 194 to get bowled out for a paltry 96. They lost the first match in Johannesburg by 107 runs before squaring the series in Port Elizabeth with a 12-run win.

Quinton de Kock, who recently took over as the captain of South Africa in the limited-overs, failed to win yet another series at home following the 1-2 loss against England. De Kock failed to score more than five after his match-winning 70 in the second game and it hurt the home team in its chase.

Opener Rassie van der Dussen made 24 to be his team’s highest scorer while Heinrich Klaasen made 22 but those proved to be inadequate to see SA through. Australia’s work was made easier by their left-arm seamer Mitchell Starc who castled de Kock with an absolute beauty.

Australia clinched the T20I series 2-1

In an almost replica of the dismissal of de Kock in the first match (he was dismissed for just two in the first over then), Starc rattled the Proteas wicketkeeper-batsman’s middle stump with a late outswing as the batsman eyed to clip it to the leg. De Kock looked helplessly towards the mid-wicket and the Australians knew they had their man. A poor opening from de Kock causes his team’s batting a whole lot of trouble and it was proved in Cape Town, as it was in Jo’burg.

Starc ended up as the Man of the Match in Cape Town by claiming three wickets for 23 runs, including the one of veteran Faf du Plessis who also fell cheaply (five off seven) and did not have a special series.

Earlier, half-centuries from openers David Warner (57) and captain Aaron Finch (55) saw Australia putting up a good show with their bat to make 193 for 5 in 20 overs, almost equalling their total in the first match. Former captain Steve Smith chipped in with an unbeaten 30 off just 15 balls towards the end. Five South Africa bowlers took a wicket each with chinaman bowler Tabraiz Shamsi’s 25 runs off four overs proving to be the most economical. Australia clinched the series 2-1 with this 97-run triumph over the hosts.