CENTURION (South Africa), Feb 26: Australia’s stand-in captain Adam Gilchrist acknowledged that the world champions were comprehensively outplayed in the opening one-day international against South Africa on Sunday.

“Man for man, South Africa just outbowled, outbatted and outfielded us. We just didn’t deliver today,” Gilchrist told reporters after Australia slumped to a six-wicket defeat in the first game of the five-match series.

Gilchrist also refused to use injuries to skipper Ricky Ponting, all rounder Andrew Symonds and fast bowler Stuart Clark as an excuse.

The injuries to Ponting (abdominal muscle), Symonds (thigh) and Clark (ribs) meant the visitors were reduced to 11 fit men.

Mitchell Johnson and Mick Lewis, with only six one-day internationals between them, had to play and South Africa punished the inexperienced pacemen mercilessly. The duo bowled only three overs each for a combined cost of 53 runs.

Paceman Brett Lee also finished with none for 59 in his 10 overs as South Africa, chasing a revised target of 204 in 41 overs, eased home with 21 balls to spare.

“The injuries are not an excuse, (South Africa captain) Graeme Smith had to deal with those through the recent tour in Australia,” said Gilchrist.

“Brett can’t be on song every game and hopefully the younger bowlers will realise where they erred. Maybe they were too full or too wide.”

Smith said his players would not be getting carried away despite the ease of their victory.

“The guys will obviously celebrate a bit tonight because it’s important to enjoy winning but we are not going to get carried away, it’s still very early in the series,” said Smith after inspiring his team with an unbeaten 119.

“This win just makes the team more hungry because we’ve been through a tough period. The guys are still highly motivated and we will be keeping our feet firmly on the ground.”

Australia, who caused a surprise by batting first in overcast conditions after winning the toss, slid to 25 for three after the start was delayed by half an hour.

“Maybe in hindsight it was a mistake to bat first,” said Gilchrist.

“Maybe it was the time the pitch spent under the covers, or the moisture around, but the pitch did a bit.”—Agencies