Pace bowler Dale Steyn and left-arm spinner Robin Peterson bagged three wickets apiece as South Africa dismissed Australia for 217 in a World Cup warmup match on Tuesday at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Steyn finished with 3-21 and Peterson took 3-45 as Australia was bowled out in 47.1 overs after electing to bat.
For Australia, Michael Clarke top-scored with 73 and captain Ricky Ponting made 55.
Clarke and Ponting had helped their side recover from two early losses, but disciplined bowling and tight fielding from South Africa saw Australia slip from a comfortable 128-2 at one stage.
In earlier practice matches, Australia lost to India by 38 runs here on Sunday, while South Africa beat Zimbabwe by eight wickets at Chennai on Saturday.
South Africa will play their second warm-up game of the World Cup against Australia at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. South Africa had beaten Zimbabwe in their first game rather easily, but against arch-rivals Australia, things could be a tad different.
South Africa will depend on the likes of Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis to bat through the entire duration of the innings and help the side in the game. Especially Kallis will look to do that given that he hasn’t had too much time at the crease in recent times after being injured for the entire series against India. He did make 49 in the first game but that was only against a weaker attack.
Australia will need to get their bearings right against spin. Imran Tahir has had one good outing and if he gets played against Australia, it will be the one interesting battle between the two. Australia will look to carry on the momentum from the England series win.
