Keshav Maharaj starred in a dominant ODI win for South Africa today (August 19) in the first match of the 50-over leg of their tour of Australia, taking a maiden five-for in the format in a 98-run victory.
South Africa's bowling attack took six wickets in 10 overs from the eighth over of Australia's chase, with Maharaj finding considerable turn to drive home the advantage. Conditions were suited to spin in Cairns, with Travis Head taking a four-for in the first innings and South Africa's other spinner Prenelan Subrayen also finding success, dismissing Head in the powerplay.
Keshav Maharaj runs through Australia's batting
With 296 on the board to defend, mainly thanks to an 82 from Aiden Markram and half-centuries from Temba Bavuma and Matthew Breetzke, Maharaj made light work of Australia's top order. He trapped Marnus Labuschagne with his first ball of the innings, getting the ball to grip and straighten off the surface to pin the Australia No.3 on the back leg. He also struck with the first ball of his next over, castling Cam Green's stumps with a ripper which pitched on middle and off stump, before snaking past the edge of Green's bat to hit off stump.
Two wickets in two balls followed in Maharaj's next over, Josh Inglis also losing his stumps before Alex Carey fell lbw attempting to sweep his first ball. At that point, Maharaj had figures of 4-5 and was on a hat-trick. He wrapped up his five-for within the first five overs of his spell, bowling Aaron Hardie with another ball that straightened.
It was Maharaj's maiden ODI five-for, and came after he was overlooked for the T20I series. Spin-bowling all-rounders George Linde and Senuran Muthusamy were preferred ahead of the T20 World Cup next year.
Australia, who are without some of their frontline players due to workload management, were eventually bowled out for 198. Mitchell Marsh scored a fighting 88 while Ben Dwarshuis was the only other batter to pass 30.
Best ODI figures by South Africa spinners
| Player | Figures | Opposition | Ground | Year |
| Imran Tahir | 7-45 | West Indies | Basseterre | 2016 |
| Imran Tahir | 6-24 | Zimbabwe | Bloemfontein | 2018 |
| Nicky Boje | 5-21 | Australia | Cape Town | 2002 |
| Keshav Maharaj | 5-33 | Australia | Cairns | 2025 |
| Imran Tahir | 5-45 | West Indies | Sydney | 2015 |
| Tabraiz Shamsi | 5-49 | Sri Lanka | Colombo | 2021 |
| Robin Petersen | 4-12 | Bangladesh | Mirpur | 2011 |
| JP Duminy | 4-16 | Ireland | Benoni | 2016 |
| Claude Henderson | 4-17 | Zimbabwe | Harare | 2001 |
| Johan Botha | 4-19 | Kenya | Bloemfontein | 2008 |
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