Breetzke, bowlers give South Africa winning start in Durban

Scorecard

Temba Bavuma-led South Africa were right on the mark as they overcame Australia by 67-runs in Durban. This was the first meeting between the two sides in the format since the latter had defeated them in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023.

South Africa were invited to bat first after Mitchell Marsh won the toss. Josh Hazlewood struck early to give the tourists the advantage, before Nathan Ellis' first-ball special accounted for Quinton de Kock (18) in the eighth over.

Matthew Breetzke walked out to bat at 29/2, and over the next three hours displayed positive intent mixed with an ability to find gaps, securing his second ODI hundred along the way.

Despite starts for Temba Bavuma (30) and Ryan Rickelton (27), Australia kept themselves in the contest with regular breakthroughs. Things changed when Breetzke found an able partner in Marco Jansen, who smashed 75 off merely 59 to lift South Africa closer to 300. That they fell three runs short was due to the wily efforts from Ellis who finished at 3/57. Adam Zampa was the second-best bowler with his 2/50.

Australia's innings began in a stark contrast to South Africa, with Mitchell Marsh unleashing havoc with the willow, racing to a 36-ball 60 before falling when the team score was 90 in the 10th over. He was dismissed by Keshav Maharaj, and soon enough Bavuma understood the pattern of the wicket and unleashed his tweakers to trouble the batters. Maharaj (4/20) and Bjorn Fortuin (2/34) shared six wickets between them, as despite efforts from Travis Head (36), Cooper Connolly (38) and Matt Renshaw (44), Australia's later batters failed to match up to the fireworks of Marsh.

The two sides will next meet in Johannesburg on Sunday in the second ODI. Another game will be played in the series to round up the three-game contest, before the sides change formats to face-off in an ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 series later.