'South African Brad Hogg' vexes Aussies

A mystery South African wrist spinner who has been likened to Brad Hogg and who raised the ire of David Warner during the Indian Premier League has announced himself as a player to watch with an impressive international debut in Guyana.

Proteas left-arm orthodox bowler Tabraiz Shamsi was "chucked into the deep end" on Wednesday, according to his delighted teammate Farhaan Behardien, when handed an ODI debut against the world champion Australians in their tri-series clash at Providence Stadium.

The 26-year-old claimed one wicket and finished with figures of 1-36 from eight overs, but caused the Aussie batsmen no shortage of problems during South Africa's 47-run victory.

Shamsi created headlines during his recent IPL stint with the Royal Challengers Bangalore, when his celebratory 'bus driver' dance was criticised by Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Warner and sparked a Twitter exchange between Shamsi and Australian leggie Adam Zampa.

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And the spinner was causing more havoc in the Australian camp on Wednesday, starting his international career with a sensational spell of 1-16 from four overs.

And it could have been so much better for the debutant; he narrowly missed taking a wicket with his second delivery, a close LBW not out decision against Aaron Finch was upheld after the Proteas reviewed, before he trapped Glenn Maxwell just three balls later, ironically with a delivery that replays showed would have missed the stumps.

Another massive appeal against Mitchell Marsh at the start of his second over, which was ruled not out but replays showed should have been given, underlined the difficulty the Australian batsmen had playing the left-armer on a turning pitch.

And Behardien, who was named man-of-the-match for his innings of 62, said the rookie spinner has made his presence known in the Proteas squad on his first international tour.

"He brings a new energy to the group," Behardien said of his domestic teammate at the Centurion-based Titans. "There's a little bit of mystery to him.

"(He is) a left-arm orthodox, kind of in the mould of Brad Hogg, he's got fire in his belly and he's always up for the game and always keen to put a performance in.

"It's always gold dust to have a guy who spins the ball both ways. He's tough to pick and I hope he'll be tough to pick for the next couple of weeks.

"He's new so teams wouldn't have too much footage on him. And hopefully the wickets will have a bit of assistance for him (for the rest of the series), but I've heard the wickets in Barbados and St Kitts are a bit more batter friendly. So he'll have to work hard and work on his lengths.

"But as a team we're really excited about having a left-arm wrist spinner in our starting XI. Hopefully he can be a member of our side for years to come."

Shamsi partnered Imran Tahir and Aaron Phangiso as part of a three-man spin attack, which Behardien labelled "a bold game plan", as the Proteas looked to take advantage of a Georgetown wicket where 31 of the 49 wickets to fall over three games have been taken by slow bowlers.

While the spin trio claimed five wickets between them, the real damage was done by pace with Kasigo Rabada and Wayne Parnell reducing Australia to 3-21 early in their pursuit of 190 to win.

Finch, who top-scored with 72, dismissed the suggestion that the Australians underestimated the faster men on a surface that took plenty of turn.

"On wickets that are predominantly down, if you've got tall bowlers that hit the wicket hard they can get just as much assistance for them as spin," the Victorian said.

"I think you can probably get a bit too focused on spin being a big impact and see the quicks as less of a threat. But if the wicket is going down like that, if someone is banging it in hard and consistently and some are going underground and some are going normally, it can be hard to play.

"They've got some quality bowlers. Rabada is an outstanding bowler and he will be for a long time and Wayne Parnell is quite experienced."

After three games in Guyana, the series moves to St Kitts tomorrow and the tiny venue of Warner Park in the capital Basseterre.

One of the smaller grounds in world cricket, the surface there is also traditionally more batsman-friendly so runs are likely to come much easier than they have here on the South American mainland.

But given Australia's history of being undone by slow bowlers, particularly on spin-friendly wickets, Finch said the threat of the turning ball is likely to continue for the rest of the series.

"We've worked hard on (facing spin bowling) since we landed here," Finch said.

"When you have wickets that are so foreign to us, they're still going to take a little bit of time to adapt to them.

"And we know that teams are going to come with spin. Both South Africa and West Indies have got quality spin line-ups, so they're going to come and be aggressive with their spinners. And that's something we're prepared for.

"Unfortunately tonight it didn't pan out for us and we weren't able to attack their spin a hell of a lot. That's something to work on for next time."