An unbeaten stand of 40 by Marcus Stoinis and Matthew Wade saw Australia to a five wicket win over South Africa in the opening match of the Super 12s of the Twenty20 World Cup on Saturday.

‘’The dugout was relaxed than I was. Quite stressful, and I was nervous. Stoinis and Wade showed a cool head to get us over the line, and that was a bit of experience can do. Maxwell did a really good job with the ball. We knew he had good matchups in the powerplay. Our whole bowling unit was outstanding. Ideally I would have loved to push Hazlewood for a third over in the powerplay. He is a world class bowler. He has accuracy and on a wicket providing variation, it can be tough. We understand that at different points guys need to rest and it gives others opportunities. We have some world class players back in our side now and experienced players count in a World Cup. SA are as good a fielding team as anyone in the world. They are quick, bowl with discipline,’’ said Australian skipper Aaron Finch after the game.

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Chasing 119 for victory, Australia were in trouble at 81-5 but Stoinis (24) and Wade (15) steered them home with two balls to spare in Abu Dhabi.

Earlier pace bowler Josh Hazlewood returned figures of 2-19 to help limit South Africa to 118-9 after the Aussies elected to bowl first.

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