Centurion, March 30: New cap Roelof van der Merwe and captain Johan Botha took South Africa to a series-clinching 17-run win in the second Twenty20 international against Australia at Centurion Park on Sunday.

Van der Merwe hit 48 off 30 balls as South Africa struggled to 156/5 after being sent in. Then Botha produced a miserly spell of off-spin bowling, taking 2/16 in four overs, as Australia were restricted to 139/8.

Van der Merwe, selected mainly as a slow left-arm bowler, was surprisingly sent in at number five and initially he struggled to find his timing.

But he chanced his arm and slammed four sixes and two fours, with two sixes and both fours coming in one over from Nathan Bracken, usually one of the world’s most economical bowlers in limited overs cricket.

The Australian bowlers varied their pace and lengths skillfully and the South African batsmen were unable to maintain a consistently quick scoring rate.

Australia made a good start, with Michael Clarke and David Warner putting on 37 for the first wicket.

DER MERWE IN ODI SIDE

An all-round performance in the match also earned rookie Roelof van der Merwe a berth in the South Africa squad for first two matches of the upcoming one-day series against Ricky Ponting's men from April 3-17. — Agencies