Shane Watson hit two sixes in his knock of 35 at Supersport Park. Themba Hadebe / AP Photo / March 14, 2014
Shane Watson hit two sixes in his knock of 35 at Supersport Park. Themba Hadebe / AP Photo / March 14, 2014

Australia clinch series over South Africa to ring a bell for World Twenty20



PRETORIA // Australia comfortably chased down a modest target set by South Africa to win the third Twenty20 international by six wickets at SuperSport Park and take the series 2-0 after the first game was washed out.

A quickfire 39 off 27 balls from opener Aaron Finch set the platform for the victory as Australia reached 129 for four with five overs to spare in reply to South Africa’s 128 for seven off 20 overs.

The home side struggled on a slow and difficult pitch and only opener Quinton de Kock, who scored 41, emerged with any plaudits as wickets fell around him.

Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc produced an impressive variation of pace to take two wickets and, as importantly, concede just 16 runs in his four overs.

Finch and Cameron White did not seem to have the same difficulty with the wicket, amassing a quick 43 runs in the first five overs as Australia switched their dominance from ball to bat.

Shane Watson pitched in with 35 off 28 balls to ease the touring side to victory.

“It puts us in a good way for the World T20,” he told reporters.

On Wednesday, Australia produced an exhibition of ferocious batting to edge South Africa in the last over of a match reduced by rain to just seven overs each in Durban.

At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

 

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

 

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

 

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30 

 

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

 

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

 

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

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'Young girls thinking of big ideas'

Words come easy for aspiring writer Afra Al Muhairb. The business side of books, on the other hand, is entirely foreign to the 16-year-old Emirati. So, she followed her father’s advice and enroled in the Abu Dhabi Education Council’s summer entrepreneurship course at Abu Dhabi University hoping to pick up a few new skills.

“Most of us have this dream of opening a business,” said Afra, referring to her peers are “young girls thinking of big ideas.”

In the three-week class, pupils are challenged to come up with a business and develop an operational and marketing plan to support their idea. But, the learning goes far beyond sales and branding, said teacher Sonia Elhaj.

“It’s not only about starting up a business, it’s all the meta skills that goes with it -- building self confidence, communication,” said Ms Elhaj. “It’s a way to coach them and to harness ideas and to allow them to be creative. They are really hungry to do this and be heard. They are so happy to be actually doing something, to be engaged in creating something new, not only sitting and listening and getting new information and new knowledge. Now they are applying that knowledge.”

Afra’s team decided to focus their business idea on a restaurant modelled after the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Each level would have a different international cuisine and all the meat would be halal. The pupils thought of this after discussing a common problem they face when travelling abroad.

“Sometimes we find the struggle of finding halal food, so we just eat fish and cheese, so it’s hard for us to spend 20 days with fish and cheese,” said Afra. “So we made this tower so every person who comes – from Africa, from America – they will find the right food to eat.”

rpennington@thenational.ae