Jansen's catch and Breetzke's century seal South Africa's series-opening ODI win over Australia

A diving catch from Marco Jansen to dismiss Matt Renshaw sealed South Africa's 67-run win over Australia in the opening ODI, Firdose Moonda writes for Cricinfo.

The catch left Australia 215 for 7 chasing 298, removing their last recognised batter, and came after Jansen also contributed with the bat, equalling his career-best score of 75 and sharing a 107-run partnership with Matthew Breetzke that helped South Africa post a match-winning total.

Breetzke, whose century in the match gave him more runs than anyone in the world game after 14 ODI innings, credited Jansen for accelerating their partnership.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Breetzke said Jansen's aggressive approach helped shift the innings' momentum, allowing him to farm the strike while Jansen targeted Australia's bowlers.

Jansen came in during the 36th over after David Miller's dismissal, and for nine overs afterwards Breetzke did not hit a boundary as Jansen raced to 43 off 39 balls, while Breetzke worked steadily towards his century, reaching three figures with a driven single that prompted an emotional celebration.

Breetzke said the celebration reflected how difficult the innings had been mentally, given how many wickets South Africa had lost around him, and that reaching the milestone came as a relief. An exchange between Jansen and Australia's Nathan Ellis after a mistimed throw briefly raised tensions, which Breetzke put down to the heat of the contest.

He said the team's response, after a series of injuries had depleted the squad, reflected the character captain Temba Bavuma had called for before the match, adding that the side had “stood up well” under pressure. South Africa have eight more ODIs, eight Tests and three T20Is to play this summer.