Australia bag hard-fought win in low-scoring Super 12 thriller
Replying to South Africa's total of 118 for nine, Australia lost three quick wickets at the top and found themselves under pressure against some accurate bowling.
With Group One loaded with six Test-playing nations, both Australia and South Africa who have never won the tournament before, were desperate to get off to a winning start in the opening match of the Super 12 stage. But it was Australia who beat South Africa by five wickets in a low-scoring thriller in their opening Super 12 clash in the Twenty20 World Cup on Saturday.
Stoinis and Wade held their nerve superbly during an unbroken sixth-wicket stand to take Australia past their 119-run target with the win coming with two balls remaining.
Replying to South Africa's total of 118 for nine, Australia lost three quick wickets at the top and found themselves under pressure against some accurate bowling.
Australia's bowlers responded splendidly to captain Aaron Finch's call to bowl first after winning the toss at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Australia made a bold call in leaving out left-arm spinner Ashton Agar - their top-ranked T20 international bowler - but Finch had enough firepower at his disposal to put South Africa on the back foot from the onset.
Josh Hazlewood and Adam Zampa did the job perfectly for Australia as the seamer rattled the Proteas top-order, while Zampa provided the team with crucial blows in the middle-overs.
South Africa did not recover from the shaky start and with Australia picking up wickets at regular intervals, they never threatened to post a big total.
Aiden Markram's 36-ball 40 and Kagiso Rabada's useful unbeaten 19 lower down the batting order helped the Proteas past the 100-run mark.
In response, Australia got off to a slow start losing skipper Aaron Finch and David Warner early. Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell then joined the proceedings and kept the scorecard ticking, before a brilliant effort in the deep by Aiden Markram ended Smith's innings.
Maxwell too departed after that but Stoinis held his nerve and helped his side finish the contest with two balls to spare.
Hazlewood was adjudged man of the match for his brilliant bowling performance.