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ADELAIDE. — Rilee Rossouw notched 78 to help South Africa beat Australia by seven wickets in the first Twenty20 international cricket match at the Adelaide Oval yesterday.

Rossouw marked his Twenty20 International debut by smashing his total off 50 balls and Quinton De Kock chipped in with 46 off 39 balls as the tourists reached 145-3 off 19 overs.

Earlier, the hosts won the toss and hit 144-6 off their 20 overs, with Shane Watson top-scoring with 44 and James Faulkner notching an unbeaten 41 off 33 balls, while Kyle Abbott took three wickets.

The result means Australia must now win at the MCG tomorrow and Sunday’s clash in Sydney to claim victory in the three-match series. The hosts handed debuts to Ben Dunk and Nathan Reardon, while JP Duminy led the Proteas for the first time, and Kagiso Rabada and Reeza Hendricks made debuts.

The Aussies opened with Aaron Finch and Cameron White, and Ryan McLaren struck early.

He bagged Finch’s wicket for 14, before Farhaan Behardien took a leaping catch to get rid of White, who had made 24.

Dunk failed on debut, out for just two, leaving the bulk of the run scoring to Watson, who had returned from injury.

But Abbott returned figures of 3-21 to frustrate Australia. He removed first Reardon and then, significantly, Watson after the latter had put on 57 for the fifth wicket with Faulkner, hitting three sixes in his 36-ball knock.

Abbott made Ben Cutting his third victim as Faulkner continued to 41 not out, but the home total was not enough.

The Proteas chase was an easy one for the most part, though Hendricks’ debut was a failure as he was out for a duck. This left De Kock and Rossouw, who needed a good score after poor knocks prior, to notch the runs.

The 25-year-old hit seven fours and three sixes, putting on 129 for the second wicket with de Kock. He was eventually out caught at mid on by Cutting off Pat Cummins, who was returning after two years of injuries. De Kock was out soon afterwards, caught by White at short cover off Cameron Boyce.

But the runs were already on the board, and skipper Duminy hit the winning run with an over to spare to give the tourists the advantage in the series. — Sky Sports.