Australian captain Mitchell Marsh spearheaded his team to a score of 226/6 against the Proteas in the first Twenty20 international at Kingsmead on Wednesday evening.
Marsh hit his best T20 score of 92 not out off 49 balls, helping Australia reach 226 for 6 after being put in.
Tim David scored 64 runs off of 28 balls as part of a fifth-wicket partnership of 97 runs off of 50 balls with Marsh.
Australia went on an all-out attack, and Marsh hit 20 runs off of Lungi Ngidi’s second over.
New lid Matt Short scored 20 runs as he and Marsh worked together to score 63 runs off 26 balls for the second wicket.
The Australians hit 11 sixes, and both Marsh and David hit the ball out of the ground and into a road on the leg side of Kingsmead’s old main stand.
The Australian attack meant that South Africa had to make a record-setting run chase in the second innings.
Brief scores:
Australia 226-6 in 20 overs (M. Marsh 92 not out, T. David 64; L. Williams 3-44)
Toss: South Africa
Match situation: South Africa need 227 runs to win