Key events

32nd over: Australia 203-6 (Renshaw 35, Starc 10) Maharaj repairs some of the damage with a maiden to Starc. He only has two overs to go, so the Australians are presumably happy to see him off. That includes an absolute jaffa, a ball that rags from outside the lefty’s off stump, into him, clips his back pad and goes just over the off bail.

Target is 95 from 108.

31st over: Australia 203-6 (Renshaw 35, Starc 10) Whack! Mitchell Starc has presumably reasoned that he’s unlikely to see out 20 overs, so he might as well try to win the match faster than that. He slaps a pull shot for four, Jansen standing the ball up for that shot through wide long on. Then Jansen oversteps, and from the free hit, Starc is able to lean away from the ball at his body, getting enough leverage to drag it through midwicket to the rope. He turns over the strike, then the South Africans deliver yet another leg-stump gift, and Renshaw tickles it for four!

That’s 14 from the over, and 95 more needed from 114 balls.

30th over: Australia 189-6 (Renshaw 28, Starc 1) Australia needs 109 from 120 balls now. Manageable run rate but the six wickets lose are what matters.

WICKET! Edwards c Jansen b Maharaj 5, Australia 188-6

Lovely bowling! Bowling to an inexperienced player, as well, perhaps takes less guile. Maharaj just bowls the classic left-armer’s delivery. A nice bit of flight and dip to draw Edwards onto the front foot. Not close enough to the pitch of the ball though, leaving it room to turn away. And crucially, South Africa still have a slip in place, they like to leave Jansen there given his extraordinary reach. That positivity in the field has brought about the wicket. A low edge just carries to Jansen, and now Renshaw’s job has got that much tougher.

29th over: Australia 185-5 (Renshaw 28, Edwards 5) Bosch owes his spinners a wealth of thanks. Their work to tighten up the innings is allowing him to do some repair work on his figures. Edwards takes four balls to find a single.

28th over: Australia 182-5 (Renshaw 26, Edwards 4) Back after the delay, and Maharaj tightens the screws a little more with a two-run over.

27th over: Australia 180-5 (Renshaw 25, Edwards 3) Bosch gets the chance for a quiet over. Edwards looks solid with his shots for a couple of singles. Needs to bat for a substantial length of time here, at least 15 overs on debut. There’s a delay now because the lights haven’t taken effect yet, as we get deeper into the afternoon on an overcast day.

26th over: Australia 177-5 (Renshaw 24, Edwards 1) Some shocking decision-making by some of the Australians today. They don’t need sixes, haven’t done since Mitch Marsh’s opening assault, but two key batters have fallen trying to hit them.

Australia need 121 from 144 balls. Now that’s quite a lot of work for Renshaw to do with a guy on debut and the bowlers.

WICKET! Green c Breetzke b Maharaj, Australia 176-5

Again, what the hell was that? Renshaw is going along nicely, needing support. Spin has been the main threat today, and Maharaj is the premier spinner. Green has only faced 10 balls, and there are fielders in the deep. The ball is not that short. And still, a 6-foot-73 batter decides to try to get low and to pull that ball over the leg side for six. Stupid shot, pure and simple. Caught at long on.

25th over: Australia 176-4 (Renshaw 24, Green 5) Bosch is having an absolute shocker. Another spell, two more pies outside the leg stump, and Renshaw pops them both in the oven to heat up for his enjoyment. Consecutive fours through fine leg.

24th over: Australia 165-4 (Renshaw 16, Green 3) That’s quality from Renshaw. He keeps the scoreboard going with a lovely cover drive. So much less visible effort than Connolly’s drives, for a much more convincing effect. Seven runs from Fortuin’s over.

23rd over: Australia 158-4 (Renshaw 11, Green 1) Coetzee hasn’t had a great day, but takes advantage of the situation to get through a two-run over. Every little bit of tightening up helps.

Australia need 140 from 162 balls.

WICKET! Connolly c Miller b Fortuin 38, Australia 156-4

22nd over: Australia 156-4 (Renshaw 10) What made him decide to do that?! Connolly has had a shocker. Fortuin, left-arm over the wicket, bowls wide of the off stump, and Connolly for some reason looks to go over long on. Having to fetch the ball robs his shot of power, and it goes up rather than long. David Miller, that is a brilliant catch. Not spectacular, because he anticipates so well and sprints so fast to get there, but he has a huge distance to cover, and judges it so well that he arrives ahead of the ball instead of having to dive. It doesn’t need to be spectacular because the lead-up work was so good.

Fortuin having a big influence. A wicket with the last ball of his over again. South Africa are currently on top of this contest.

21st over: Australia 152-3 (Connolly 37, Renshaw 7) Pace keeps travelling. Coetzee to Renshaw, who plays a perfect flick off his front pad, the bat just arriving where the ball is arrowing in, and barely a follow-through as the ball speeds through square. Elegant.

20th over: Australia 146-3 (Connolly 36, Renshaw 2) Fortuin here. Spin has been the only threat. How do Australia play the remaining overs of slow bowling? Fortuin has seven after this over, Maharaj six, so that’s 13 of the remaining 30 overs. South Africa don’t have any part-time options in this XI. Fortuin gets milked for five from the over, which will suit Australia fine.

152 needed from 180 balls.

19th over: Australia 141-3 (Connolly 33, Renshaw 0) Coetzee returns. Connolly is driving at the ball so hard, but not always with timing. You hear this loud crack, see the bat whipping through the air, then the ball departs the area more slowly than you’d expect, or finds the fielder. Finally he does find a gap, well behind point this time, for four.

Guy Hornsby emailed in a little while ago. “Afternoon Geoff, afternoon everyone. It’s interesting seeing how the changes in the sides go here. South Africa’s attack is shorn of some world class operators, and Australia’s middle order likewise has a different hue. You feel Renshaw could be key here, with his form from the Zimbabwe series. It’s great to see him get a run too, it feels like forever since he debuted, because it really was!”

Here’s Renshaw for you now.

WICKET! Inglis c Jansen b Fortuin 3, Australia 134-3

18th over: Australia 134-3 (Connolly 27) Now then! As Mark Nicholas might say. A second wicket in short time. Inglis is often the Australian engine room, but can’t be today. He tries a reverse sweep against the left-armer, it hits the back of his glove, and loops up towards short third where Jansen gets across to gobble the lollipop. Last ball of the over.

17th over: Australia 132-2 (Connolly 26, Inglis 2) Josh Inglis next to take up the chase, he’s a confident character, busy right-hander. Australia need 166 from 198 balls.

WICKET! Head c Miller b Jansen 36, Australia 129-2

Finally something goes right for South Africa’s seamers. Head has made a run a ball 36, decent stuff from an opener, but has not looked comfortable or convincing all day. Finally an error brings him undone, a leading edge as he tries to work Jansen to leg, and a simple catch at deep third.

Marco Jansen celebrates after dismissing Australia's Travis Head. Photograph: Gianluigi Guercia/AFP/Getty Images

16th over: Australia 129-1 (Head 36, Connolly 25) More spin now, Bjorn Fortuin with his left-armers, but Connolly the left-hander isn’t too bothered. Drives him through cover for four as well. He’s catching up to Head…

15th over: Australia 124-1 (Head 35, Connolly 21) Marco Jansen comes back… and is summarily dismissed! Connolly isn’t worried about South Africa’s spearhead. Second ball he faces from the tall left-hander, he leans back and swats it square for six. Next ball fuller, next ball driven through the off side for four. Drinks.

14th over: Australia 111-1 (Head 33, Connolly 10) Head continues to look uncomfortable against Maharaj. Tries a couple of shots, blocks a couple, in the end just pinches a single from the over.

13th over: Australia 110-1 (Head 32, Connolly 10) Cooper Connolly finally gets one away, a cover drive to the fence. From whose bowling? Why, from Corbin Bosch, who is not having his day of days.

12th over: Australia 103-1 (Head 31, Connolly 5) Travis Head has not had an easy time of it today, aside from that couple of minutes against Bosch earlier. He gets tangled trying to turn Maharaj square, then pushes a drive for one. Hasn’t timed many balls convincingly, though he has a habit of scratchy innings that still produce runs. Connolly nearly coughs up his wicket again! Squeezes a full ball to short midwicket and it falls centimetres short of being caught! He gets strike back, then plays his first aggressive short in the form of a sweep, but the deep square leg keeps it to one run.

11th over: Australia 99-1 (Head 29, Connolly 3) Suddenly Corbin Bosch’s life has become so much easier. Runs up, lands it on a length, and concedes three singles off his over. Three singles! The stuff of dreams.

10th over: Australia 96-1 (Head 27, Connolly 2) Two left-handers at the crease now, with Connolly to the middle, but his stay almost ends first ball, Maharaj sliding a delivery through him, just beating his stumps, and foxing the keeper too, conceding four byes. The Powerplay ends at 96 for one wicket, Australia almost a third of the way to their target, and more remarkable for the fact the two overs of spin conceded only a dozen of those runs as well as providing the breakthrough.

WICKET! Marsh c Breetzke b Maharaj 60, Australia 90-1

Finally, South Africa’s torment is over! Pace off has done the job, the left-arm spinner giving it some flight, and Marsh drives hard at the dipping ball and can’t get full power on it, lifting it towards cover where it curves towards the ground, but Breetzke just gets under it.

Marsh has done his job, an opening turbocharge that has left his teammates needing only 5 an over to win.

Half century! Marsh 54 from 31 balls

9th over: Australia 89-0 (Marsh 60, Head 26) The lull is over! Bosch is allowed to keep bowling, which seems a mistake after that disastrous previous over, and Marsh immediately hits him out of the ground. That pull shot clears the roof of the pavilion over square leg, perhaps clipping the corrugated tin, and ends up in the road outside. A passerby initially puts it in his pocket, then is persuaded to return it to the field of play. That’s no help for Bosch, who is soon baseballed off a length for six more, over long off.

Mitchell Marsh plays a shot on his way to his half century. Photograph: Themba Hadebe/AP

8th over: Australia 77-0 (Marsh 48, Head 26) Finally South Africa turn to spin, after seven overs of seam. You’d say the previous bowling was toothless, but there were a few good deliveries from Jansen in his first couple of overs! Amazing how quickly it can change with the white ball. Finally Keshav Maharaj buys South Africa get a breather, a quiet over with five runs being nudged about.

7th over: Australia 72-0 (Marsh 46, Head 23) A change in the bowling doesn’t help South Africa. A second boundary for Head, one from the donation box, outside his leg stump and he gets a tickle on it. Fine leg is up inside the circle and the ball goes finer than him. Then Head goes back and pulls through midwicket, cramped for room and doesn’t get all of it, and it’s very close to Bavuma’s dive, but not close enough. Four there, and another four as he gets a decent enough ball angled slightly across him, close to the body, but Head still manages to crash it through backward point.

Corbin Bosch is the provider, some innocuous looking seam-up stuff, and having been targeted by Head, Bosch loses his line. Twice down the leg side from over the wicket, he changes to around the wicket and bowls a third consecutive wide. Then finally gets one slightly closer to the pads, and is tucked for four more to fine leg. Bowls the same ball to close the over, and is lucky that Head misses it. A dreadful start to Bosch’s bowling day, going for 19.

6th over: Australia 53-0 (Marsh 46, Head 7) A bit of frustration for Head, denied by the field, first with a good stop at midwicket, then another one-handed drive stopped at point, before a sweet on-drive that looked destined for the rope is collared at mid on, a slight deflection allowing Head to take a single when four looked imminent. Still, that brings Marsh back on strike, and he immediately belts his own on-drive, in the air this time, wide of the fielder for four.

Then, just for balance, he plays a similar shot on the other side of the field! Wide of mid off this time, along the ground being the only other difference, and he’s 46 from 24!

Coetzee manages to cause Marsh a second thought with a slower ball, driven to cover, and it least produces a dot ball.

5th over: Australia 44-0 (Marsh 38, Head 6) Another Head single first ball, and well may he feed Marsh the strike, because Marsh camps on the back foot and brutalises Jansen over deep midwicket for his fourth six of the innings. He has 28 runs in five scoring shots at the moment.

Make that 32 in six! Marsh adds a second four, this time standing up tall to pull a bouncer through fine leg.

Make that 36 in seven shots! Jansen left-arm around the wicket angling in, but still too much width, and Marsh nails the cut shot behind point.

Finally, his first non-boundary scoring shot arrives as he pummels the last ball of the over to midwicket, almost four more, but it’s saved on the rope for two. That’s 17 from the over, and Marsh is flying.

4th over: Australia 27-0 (Marsh 22, Head 5) Finally a non-boundary. Head dinks into the leg side and takes off. Marsh facing Coetzee though can’t connect as he did against Jansen. Twice he plays the pull shot and can’t connect, one to a ball at waist height, once to a shorter one that hits him in the forearm. Again it looks the bowler is on top, and again the last ball of the over goes for six! How has he done that?

Yorker, curling past the leg stump. Just pitches short of the right length, so it’s too full to even be exactly a half volley. But somehow, Marsh playing a simple clip off his pads gets the sweetest possible timing to send it over the rope at deep backward square. That’s an unbelievable shot.

3rd over: Australia 20-0 (Marsh 16, Head 4) Straight drive for six now! Marsh lines up Jansen over mid off, again such a simple bat-swing. But Jansen comes back well! Getting the ball to swing, to shape, beating the edge a couple of times. Australia have had three scoring shots in as many overs. Wait, make that four scoring shots! And six more runs! Last ball of the over, Jansen looks like escaping it well, but Marsh throws his hands at width, and sends a wide ball flat over cover. Goodness.

2nd over: Australia 8-0 (Marsh 4, Head 4) If Marsh played his signature shot for his first boundary, so does Head: a slash behind point from the left-hander that flies past the catcher. Head ends up with one hand on the bat after that shot. Gerald Coetzee in the broad black headband is bowling this over. Does get up for an appeal, swing and full, but not in line with the stumps.

1st over: Australia 4-0 (Marsh 4, Head 0) Time for Big Marco to try to match his batting feats with the ball. But he’s bashed away! Second ball of the innings from Jansen, and Marsh plays that uncomplicated violent straight drive of his, cannoning back down the ground. He swings a couple more times in the over, but misses his pull and his swish outside off stump.

Thanks Martin. Yep, your classic even-handed ODI at the halfway mark is this. The kind of target that could look like a stroll for either team if they have a good start, but as we saw during South Africa’s innings, this format leaves plenty of times for things to change. For Australia, the result is perhaps less important than the chance for two of their main quicks to tune up, but the batting corps has plenty to play for in the chase.

Thanks a lot for following along this far – it turned into a gripping start to Australia’s tour of South Africa. I’ll hand you over to Geoff Lemon to guide you through the chase.

Matthew Breetzke deserves all the flowers coming his way as he attempts to explain his imperious ODI form and second century in the format. Here he is speaking to Vernon Philander on the broadcast.

double quotation markThey [Australia] are one of the best in the world. So that just gets the juices flowing. I love playing against the big teams.

I think a clear role from the coaches in what I need to do and adapting the conditions [has been a key to success in the format]. We obviously lost early wickets and it was a bit tricky up front there. I had to build some partnerships and luckily got away.

Me and Marco have had good partnerships over the last year. I think we get each other going. He said just play your game and, yeah, it was a special innings.

Matthew Breetzke and Marco Jansen lift South Africa to 297-8 in the first innings of the ODI against Australia in Durban. Breetzke held the innings together early even while keeping the score ticking over and reached his second ODI century in as many balls. He was eventually being run out when on 112, while Jansen lit the fireworks late in the innings with 75 from only 59 deliveries. Nathan Ellis (57 for 3) impressed early but was unable to contain Jansen and might have been better off not poking the bear with some heated discussions in the death overs. Adam Zampa (50 for 2) took a couple of crucial wickets even when bowling too short at times, while Mitchell Starc (60 for 0) and Josh Hazlewood (50 for 1) were largely underwhelming.

Matthew Breetzke hits a critical century for South Africa against Australia. Photograph: Gianluigi Guercia/AFP/Getty ImagesWICKET! Coetzee run out (Inglis) 6 (South Africa 296-8)

Gerald Coetzee smacks Edwards for six over deep cover from the first ball he faces then fails to connect with his next three strokes before testing Inglis’s arm with one delivery remaining.

49th over: South Africa 278-6 (Jansen 71, Bosch 1) Corbin Bosch stands in the way of Jansen and Ellis renewing their simmering rivalry. He doesn’t have too much idea about a yorker but a thick edge earns him a boundary. Jansen reaches his highest score in ODIs with a boundary through point. But Ellis picks him up with the next delivery as a straighter ball crashes into the back pad. Australia has fallen behind the over-rate and are bowling the last two with an extra fielder inside the circle.

WICKET! Jansen lbw b Ellis 75 (South Africa 289-7)

Marco Jansen’s hugely entertaining knock comes to an end as he looks to hit a straight ball across the line and is trapped dead in front. He has a new highest score in ODIs with 75 from 59 balls with four sixes and seven boundaries.