Steyn burst, Du Plessis 96 seal title for South Africa

South Africa 221 for 4 (du Plessis 96, de Villiers 57*) beat Australia 217 for 9 (Faulkner 40, Steyn 4-35) by six wickets 
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

South Africa won a first-ever tournament final against Australia after a Dale Steyn bowling masterclass handed them the advantage and an anchoring innings from Faf du Plessis - which ended just four short of what would have been a fourth century in the series - guided a composed chase. Steyn's four wickets, which included two in two balls, led a surge through the Australian middle-order in which South Africa plucked five wickets for 29 runs. South Africa paced the reply perfectly using du Plessis' purple patch as the pivot and winning with 9.1 overs remaining.

On a pitch that had not been used in the tournament so far, Steyn found movement early on and reverse-swing by the half-way stage. Australia could not muster anything similar, nor could they find a way to dislodge du Plessis who eventually fell searching for his milestone.

Swing was on offer from the outset but it did not account for the initial breakthrough; Phillip Hughes' overeagerness to show aggression did. He hit the first ball of Steyn's third over hard but AB de Villiers had moved himself out of slip and to short cover, where he collected a stinger. Similarly, after Wayne Parnell's opening over cost nine runs, Steve Smith tried to take the left-armer on and top-edged a pull that ballooned straight up for David Miller at mid-on.

South Africa spinners then enforced a stranglehold as Aaron Phangiso found bounce and Imran Tahir used the googly to good effect. Ultimately, it was Tahir's variation that accounted for George Bailey who chopped one on as he failed to pick the wrong 'un. Australia needed a batsman to partner Aaron Finch and Mitchell Marsh looked the candidate to do the job but the strike was seldom rotated. Finch reached his third fifty of the tournament and but Australia were stung when Steyn's second spell launched in full swing, literally.

Finch's growing unease was exposed when Steyn ripped through the bat-pad gap and wrenched the stumps from the ground. With his next ball, Steyn trapped Glenn Maxwell on the back foot to open Australia up. After a six off Tahir, Marsh's threat was also blunted when he inside-edged a Parnell delivery onto his stumps in the over before the Powerplay, leaving the lower-middle-order with a big job.

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