Chennai: Openers Usman Khawaja and Joe Burns&nbsp;struck sedate half centuries as Australia 'A' cantered to a&nbsp;nine-wicket victory over South Africa 'A' in the first&nbsp;tri-series cricket match here today.
Hosts India 'A' is the other team in the tournament.&nbsp;
Asked to bowl after the coin landed in favour of Dean&nbsp;Elgar, the Australians bowled out the opposition for 171 in&nbsp;48.4 overs, and chased down the target with as many as 19&nbsp;overs to spare at the Chidambaram Stadium.
Right-arm pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile was the best&nbsp;Australian bowler, returning impressive figures of 3/31 in 10&nbsp;overs.
When their time to bat came, Khawaja made 73 off 82 balls&nbsp;while his partner at the top of the order, Burns, remained&nbsp;unbeaten on a 91-ball composed 63. Khawaja struck nine fours&nbsp;while Burns found the fence six times and cleared it once.&nbsp;
One-down batsman Travis Head had raced away to 27 off 20&nbsp;balls with the help of four boundaries and a six when the&nbsp;winning run was hit in the last ball of the 31st over.&nbsp;
Chasing a rather modest total, Khawaja and Burns set the&nbsp;ball rolling with a 142-run opening-wicket partnership and by&nbsp;the time the former got out to Hardus Viljoen, victory was&nbsp;within striking distance of the Aussies.
Pacer Viljoen was the only South African bowler to taste&nbsp;success with the ball, though it did not make any difference&nbsp;to the outcome of the match.
Earlier, the Proteas were off to a solid start with Reeza&nbsp;Hendricks (43) and captain Dean Elgar (28) putting on 73 runs&nbsp;in 15 overs.&nbsp;
Elgar got out after facing 49 balls but it was the&nbsp;dismissal of Theunis de Bruyn, batting at number three, that&nbsp;triggered a collapse from where South Africa 'A' could never&nbsp;recover.
Besides Coulter-Nile, Ashton Agar, James Pattinson and&nbsp;Sean Abbott bagged two wickets apiece to tame the South&nbsp;African batsmen.&nbsp;
Young left-arm spinner Agar, especially, was very&nbsp;impressive, taking the wicket of top-scorer Reeza Hendricks&nbsp;and Beuran Hendricks while conceding a measly 26 runs in his&nbsp;10 overs.

Openers Usman Khawaja and Joe Burns&nbsp;struck sedate half centuries as Australia 'A' cantered to a&nbsp;nine-wicket victory over South Africa 'A' in the first&nbsp;tri-series cricket match in Chennai on Wednesday

Tri-series: Khawaja, Burns set up easy win for Australia 'A' vs SA 'A'

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Openers Usman Khawaja and Joe Burns&nbsp;struck sedate half centuries as Australia 'A' cantered to a&nbsp;nine-wicket victory over South Africa 'A' in the first&nbsp;tri-series cricket match in Chennai on Wednesday

Tri-series: Khawaja, Burns set up easy win for Australia 'A' vs SA 'A'

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Home / Sports / Cricket / Article / Tri-series: Khawaja, Burns set up easy win for Australia 'A' vs SA 'A'

Tri-series: Khawaja, Burns set up easy win for Australia 'A' vs SA 'A'

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