Mighty Maharaj's record night after turbulent few months

There is surely not another international cricketer who has endured quite the series of ups and downs over the past two months as Keshav Maharaj.

In June, Maharaj was moved to tears after South Africa defeated Australia in the World Test Championship final at Lord's.

By the end of that month, he was granted the honour of captaining the world champion Test team against Zimbabwe, standing in for the injured Temba Bavuma.

Then came the crash; after a strained groin saw him miss the second match of the Zimbabwe series, the fit-again Maharaj was blindsided when he was dropped from South Africa's T20 squad.

Coach Shukri Conrad opted for left-arm spinners George Linde and Senuran Muthusamy, and leg-spinner Nqaba Peter. 

On Sunday, Maharaj expressed his disappointment at the call and his desire to fight his way back into the T20 side, even at the age of 35.

A few days later in Cairns, he put on the best white-ball performance of his career in the first of three BKT Tires ODIs against reigning 50-over champions Australia.

The wily operator took his maiden five-wicket haul in ODIs, needing just 25 balls to reach the milestone, while also becoming the first South African spinner to take 300 international wickets across all formats.

The local batters were mystified by Maharaj's length and control, collapsing to 6-89 (and then 198 all out) off the back of the left-arm tweaker's 5-33.

Both Maharaj and Aussie captain Mitch Marsh admitted after the game that the new ball spun much more on the Cazalys Stadium surface than they were expecting.

It made Maharaj's introduction into the attack inside the Powerplay look a masterstroke.

"When you try and bowl over-spin, it drops, as spinners call it," Maharaj told reporters on his record night.

"Especially with the newer ball, it does come a little bit more natural than with the older ball.

"Once I identified there was a little bit of spin, I tried to use my pace and a little bit of angle on the crease.

"And fortunately I put the ball in the right areas."

Maharaj had the eye-watering figures of 4-5 after bowling 2.3 overs, which included two lbws and two bowleds.

The very first ball he bowled brought success, claiming Marnus Labuschagne lbw with a sharply-spinning ball that Maharaj would later label "an absolute snorter".

He beat the outside edge of Cameron Green's cover drive with guile and turn and had Josh Inglis completely deceived by playing back to a fullish delivery. Both were bowled.

Maharaj stayed around the wicket to the left-handed Alex Carey and nailed the sweeping South Australian on the toe first ball. Each of the first four scalps brought an animated celebration as his teammates swamped him.

But upon bowling Aaron Hardie for his fifth wicket, the outward display of emotion was traded for a more subdued smile.

"I'm not someone who bowls for five-fors," Maharaj said.

"I'm a process driven person so I judge myself on my consistency and my lengths.

"I think it was more a sigh of relief to finally tick the box."

Marsh, Australia's lone bright spot with the bat on the night, finished with 88 from 96 and was also the only batter from the hosts' top seven who didn't perish to spin.

He watched all five wickets from the non-striker's end and had nothing but praise for the opposition spinner, who now boasts ODI wickets against Australia at the superb average of 21.64.

"It was a fantastic spell," Marsh said. "On his day, he's a world-class bowler, so on days like today you take your hat off (to him)."

BKT Tyres ODI Series - Australia v South Africa

August 19: South Africa win by 98 runs

August 22: Second ODI v South Africa, Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay, 2:30pm AEST

August 24: Third ODI v South Africa, Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay, 2:30pm AEST

Australia ODI squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Adam Zampa

South Africa ODI squad: Temba Bavuma (c), Corbin Bosch, Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis, Nandre Burger, Tony de Zorzi, Aiden Markram, Kwena Maphaka, Senuran Muthusamy, Keshav Maharaj, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Prenelan Subrayen