6 months from today, we’ll be all set to begin the 2020 T20 World Cup in Australia and from today till then, it’s going to be a lot of T20 action across the world in preparation for that major ICC event. Today, Australia began their tour of South Africa after the latter recently ended a fantastic home series against England.
While they competed tooth and nail against England, they were no match for the mighty Aussies in the first game of the tour, succumbing to a massive loss in the 1st T20. Though David Warner was dismissed early, Australia still managed to put up a total of 196 and it was always going to be tough to chase that down.
However, we at least thought that the home team would make a match out of it. No one would have expected them to be completed dominated, ending with a loss of 107 runs. The main moment of the 2nd innings though was that when left-arm spinner Ashton Agar went on to become on the second Australian to get a T20I hat-trick, after Brett Lee did so against Bangladesh in 2007.
It’s been more than a decade wait and Agar became the second after he dismissed Faf du Plesses, Andile Phehlukwayo and Dale Steyn, in just his first over of the game. From 44/4 and already in a losing situation, Agar reduced South Africa to 44/7 in 8 overs, with literally no chance left to win this game.
He’s always been a handy cricketer with plenty of domestic and Big Bash experience, while he’s been making contributions at the international level too now. After smashing a few with the bat in the 1st innings, he bagged a hat-trick after getting the outside edge of Steyn, which was pocketed by Aaron Finch at first slip. He later picked up debutant van Biljon and Lungi Ngidi to get a 5-fer, while also being on a hat-trick for the second time in the night. What a game for the younster!
