England [226/5] beat South Africa [222/6] by 5 wickets in the third T20I, win series 2-1

[MenInG]

After two high-scoring encounters that both ended in narrow margins, another potential thriller could be in store in the decider.

Overview

South Africa v England
3rd T20I
SuperSport Park, Centurion
Sunday, 16 February; 02.30pm local, 12.30pm GMT

In a neck-and-neck series, both teams have traded jabs with each other, setting up what could potentially be a cracking decider at Centurion’s SuperSport Park. South Africa won the first T20I by one run, England returned the favour by winning the second by two runs.

With so little separating the two sides, making predictions is a pointless game. But if the series so far is any indication, the only thing that can be said with certainty is that this will once again be a test of batting might.

That’s not to say that the bowlers are a complete non-entity. As many as 31 wickets have fallen in the two games, which amounts to an average of nearly eight wickets per innings. But with both teams possessing an imperious middle order, this comes down to a battle of who can outdo whom.

What happened last time

Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow set the early tone, before Ben Stokes built on the foundation in the middle overs and Moeen Ali went berserk to lay the finishing touches on a gargantuan total of 204. Quinton de Kock, who blitzed a 22-ball 65, first, and Rassie van der Dussen later, kept South Africa on course for the most part, but Tom Curran bounced back from conceding a six and a four to defend 15 in the final over and hand England the victory.

Conditions

Centurion will be bright, sunny and pleasant. South Africa defended 180 against Sri Lanka in the last T20I at this venue, but on current form, either team could have a lot more to defend.

https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/1610421

 

[MenInG]

Teams:

South Africa (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w/c), Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen, Dwaine Pretorius, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dale Steyn, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lungi Ngidi, Bjorn Fortuin

England (Playing XI): Jason Roy, Jos Buttler(w), Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Eoin Morgan(c), Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Tom Curran, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood

South Africa have won the toss and have opted to bat

 

[minamino]

Bavuma looking good

 

[MenInG]

RSA 137/3 (13.2) CRR: 10.27
South Africa opt to bat

 

[minamino]

Klaassen giving Klaassic phainta

 

[adzzy786]

All these games have been thrillers so far, hoping this one will be aswell. Great advertisement for t20 cricket.

Two good teams battling it out makes real interesting cricket

 

[minamino]

T20 is the best format. No other format can produce so many thrillers frequently

 

[cricket.mad]

220 plus required for SA here to be safe

 

[minamino]

Klaassen, RVD, AB and Faf should be the middle order for SA in T20 WC

 

[HappyWarsFan]

T20 is the best format. No other format can produce so many thrillers frequently

Clearly new to cricket I see.

 

[tyron_woodley]

lol mark wood. achha bowler hai. tekay tekay

 

[Manunited18]

lol mark wood. achha bowler hai. tekay tekay

Ho yaar t20 batsman game

 

[Manunited18]

220 plus required for SA here to be safe

England will chase it, the most destructive batting line up in world cricket and in the high altitude of joberg the ball will be dissapearing

 

[Titan24]

Some really good batting from SA but Eng has been pretty poor with ball in hand throughout the T20 series except Jordan in first 2 T20 internationals. Almost every other ball under pressure has either been a poor length short ball, half volley or full toss and not much pace variations.

 

[Robert]

Blimey, is the match half over already?

Looks like good hitting, flat pitch, high altitude and dodgy bowling.

England might need a Buttler special.

 

[Ozymandiasza]

Excellent t20i cricket this series

Well played.

 

[Saurav]

Banton
Roy
Bairstow
Morgan
Stokes
Butler
Moeen
Woakes
Jordan
Archer
Rashid

This team looks set to win T20 WC

 

[TrentDevil]

Pitch intruder out there, the Wonder Woman

 

[Manunited18]

Blimey, is the match half over already?

Looks like good hitting, flat pitch, high altitude and dodgy bowling.

England might need a Buttler special.

Yes absolutely, plus it's high altitude the ball flies, I'm backing England to chase this with England's depth of hitting in the order

 

[Titan24]

Such matches make 6 hitting look so easy. Yes some outstanding batting talent on display but sometimes its odd to see bowlers not being in the game much at all, maybe a bit at the end as Jordan showed in last couple of matches.

 

[sweep_shot]

SA should win this.

 

[sweep_shot]

England needs 76 runs from 36 balls. 6 wickets in hand.

 

[Rajdeep]

Why didnt Steyn played the test series but playing meaningless T20?

 

[Robert]

59 off 25....

 

[Robert]

53 off 24.

 

[sweep_shot]

Why didnt Steyn played the test series but playing meaningless T20?

He doesn't probably have the fitness for Test anymore. He is old and had multiple injuries.

 

[Rajdeep]

Morgan 5 sixes in 14 balls faced

 

[sweep_shot]

England are still in the game!

38 needed from 20 balls.

Morgan is the key.

 

[Robert]

This is actually quite exciting.

 

[Rajdeep]

He doesn't probably have the fitness for Test anymore. He is old and had multiple injuries.

Yeah looks like that. He wants to extend his career now and maximum his income by playing T20s around the world.

 

[Manunited18]

Still backing England, full of big hitters

 

[sweep_shot]

South Africa were winning this but Morgan changed the game completely. Required run rate is now below 12.

 

[sweep_shot]

33 needed from 3 overs. 6 wickets in hand.

 

[OhTwadi]

Morgan!!!!

 

[Robert]

38 off 14 balls for Morgan.

 

[Robert]

Fastest T20 fifty is off 21 balls, by Morgan himself....

 

[sweep_shot]

Andile has two overs left. He has been economical today.

 

[Rajdeep]

What hitting. 26 off 15 now.

 

[Kroll]

Morgan should take them home from here.

 

[sweep_shot]

Stokes joins the party. Six!

26 more runs needed from 15 balls.

 

[sweep_shot]

Another six! Back to back sixes from Stokes.

20 from 14 needed.

 

[Kroll]

Stokes cutting loose now!

 

[Robert]

Reverse ramp from Stokes!

 

[sweep_shot]

Current Partnership --> 59 runs, 4.1 overs, RR: 14.16 (Morgan - 37, Stokes - 22).

Potentially match-winning partnership. Changed the game completely.

 

[Robert]

19 off 13 to win.

 

[sweep_shot]

17 needed from 12. England should be home now.

 

[Kroll]

Eng winning this, will be some victory, a chase of 223 is some going, especially a side of SA quality.

 

[sweep_shot]

Stokes is gone! That was a bad shot from him.

17 needed from 11.

 

[Robert]

If Morgs is going to beat his own record he needs ten off his next two balls.

 

[Manunited18]

South Africa were winning this but Morgan changed the game completely. Required run rate is now below 12.

On a wicket like this with England's hitting power I made England favourite at start off the inmings

 

[sweep_shot]

Moeen Ali in the crease. Has been out of the team for a while.

 

[Robert]

Time for Beard.

 

[sweep_shot]

Six from Morgan.

9 needed off 8.

 

[sweep_shot]

Another six!

Morgan reaches the fastest T20I ever for England.

 

[Robert]

Three off seven.

 

[Kroll]

Morgan continues the assault!

 

[sweep_shot]

Scores are level.

1 run is required from 1 over.

 

[sweep_shot]

Morgan has hit 7 sixes today. Beast mode.

 

[Titan24]

Morgan with 7 sixes and 0 4s in his 55 of 21 balls. Extraordinary hitting. English batting makes hitting sixes look so easy.

 

[sweep_shot]

Moeen finishes the game with a boundary.

England wins by 5 wickets with 5 balls to spare.

England wins the series 2-1.

Congratulations.

 

[Rajdeep]

England should win T20 world cup this year too. I dont see many teams can match their hitting qualities.

 

[shah_1]

Best batting team in the world in T20 cricket. It is just that the bowling attack in pop gun. Jofra Archer is needed

 

[Kroll]

whataay win and series by Eng, fully deserved.

 

[sweep_shot]

England should win T20 world cup this year too. I dont see many teams can match their hitting qualities.

They generally flop in Australia. Can't see them winning there. I think Australia may win it.

 

[minamino]

whataay win and series by Eng, fully deserved.

Not really. A lot of things went their way in the last game.

 

[Manunited18]

England or Australia for t20 world cup, the rest are playing to make up the numbers

 

[IMMY69]

De Kok always looks like he’s about to cry..

 

[Usman Chadda]

England is the most exciting team to watch in world cricket. The outrageous hitting ability they have is just awe-inspiring

 

[MenInG]

MORGAN BLITZ CARRIES ENGLAND TO SERIES WIN

Sunday, 16 February 2020

EOIN MORGAN launched a six-hitting blitz to get his England side over the line by five wickets with five balls to spare over the Standard Bank Proteas at SuperSport Park on Sunday. The result gave them a 2-1 KFC T20 International series win to go with their victory in the Test series and the drawn Momentum One-Day series.

The England captain also finished the T20 series as the leading runs scorer on either side with the Proteas opening pair of Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma being the next best.

It was a fitting end to what has been a high-quality series with a total of 26 sixes being hit by the two sides while almost 450 runs were put on the scoreboard.

KFC Man of the match and Man of the Series Morgan’s contribution was 7 sixes in a half-century that took only 21 balls and it was his partnership of 61 off 27 balls with Ben Stokes that really settled the issue as they chased down a target that had soared to more than 12 runs to the over.

It was England’s second highest successful runs chase against the Proteas, only being bettered by the 230 they had to make at Mumbai four years ago.

In spite of the disappointment of the series defeat the Proteas can take some important positives out of the series, the most important being the settled and successful opening batting partnership between Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma. They had successive partnerships in this series of 48, 92 and then today’s effort of 84.

They have regularly enabled the Proteas to score more than 60 in the power play overs.

A second positive today was the innings of Heinrich Klaasen who smashed 66 off 33 balls (4 fours and 4 sixes) and gave the Proteas the impact in the middle order that they can build on going forward. It was his first white ball appearance for the Proteas in just over a year and he is clearly going to figure in the plans for the future building up to the T20 World Cup.

 

[Saurav]

England should win T20 world cup this year too. I dont see many teams can match their hitting qualities.

If they pick the right team yes.Not sure why Banton isn't playing

 

[shariqnoor]

These teams are so far ahead with their power hitting abilities that Pakistan needs a miracle of miracles to win the World Cup. Complete and utter mismatch. How is Pakistan number 1 in the rankings? It's a joke.

 

[shah_1]

These teams are so far ahead with their power hitting abilities that Pakistan needs a miracle of miracles to win the World Cup. Complete and utter mismatch. How is Pakistan number 1 in the rankings? It's a joke.

We played a lot of games in UAE in 2018 where likes of Hafeez and Malik are gun T20 batsmen otherwise tailender elsewhere

 

[jnaveen1980]

Both teams bashed each others bowling. On flat wickets England is tough to beat. They have the hitting power right through their line up.

 

[BreadPakoda]

England is a such a gun T20 team. No matter what Australia, India, and South Africa do, they will still be behind.

 

[sweep_shot]

I think crowd got their money's worth.

A classic T20I game.

 

[The Viper]

Morgan's record-equalling fifty secures series for England

An incredible 22-ball 57* from Eoin Morgan, including seven sixes, closed out what had seemed a tight chase in England's favour.

Having been set 223 to win, the early wicket of Jason Roy for 7, brilliantly caught by Tabraiz Shamsi running in from third man, was a major blow to England's chances. But Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow combined for a 91-run partnership in 8.1 overs to put the visitors on top as they approached the halfway stage of the innings.

Buttler had brought up his fifty from just 23 balls, but after reaching the landmark he stalled and was dismissed for 57 as he attempted to scoop a Dwaine Pretorious slower ball, succeeding only in sending it straight up.

Bairstow compensated for Buttler's dismissal by upping his own ante, playing the main role in a brief but productive 34-run partnership with Dawid Malan, who played in place of the ill Joe Denly. Both men fell in the space of seven balls though, leaving the game well balanced with 78 runs still needed from 38 balls.

Morgan began his innings with little indication of what was to come as he knocked his first four balls for singles, but after Bairstow's dismissal the assault began. The English skipper hit the first two of his seven maximums from Dwaine Pretorious's final over, adding another from the final ball of Dale Steyn's next over.

Despite the big-hitting, the required rate rose to more than 13 an over, but another pair of sixes – and a four from Ben Stokes who had been striking at less than a run a ball from his first seven deliveries faced – brought it down to 11 an over and, England would have felt, under control.

Stokes hit back-to-back deliveries from Phehlukwayo over the rope himself, before holing out from the first ball of the penultimate over with 17 runs still required. But any concerns of a repeat of the first T20I, where England had required seven runs from seven balls and went on to lose by one run, were quickly put to bed as Morgan lifted a pair of low full tosses from Ngidi over the boundary to bring up his fifty and leave just three runs required from seven balls. The second of those sixes also took him past fifty from just his 21st ball, equalling his own record for the fastest T20I fifty for England.

A boundary from Moeen Ali sealed the victory from the first ball of the final over, the first time in five T20Is at Centurion that the side batting second has won.

Having won the toss and chosen to bat first South Africa's openers, as they had in the first two matches in the series, got them off to a flyer. Temba Bavuma took the early lead before skipper Quinton de Kock hit three consecutive balls from Chris Jordan over the rope to bring up the fifty partnership from only 22 balls.

England's bowlers struck back though, taking the wickets of both openers in quick succession – de Kock caught in the deep off Ben Stokes for 35, and Bavuma bowled by a quicker ball from Adil Rashid for 49.

But after a relatively sedate period, Heinrich Klaasen launched into a blitz of his own, bringing up his fifty from 25 balls, ending up with a 33-ball 66 before he was dismissed by a fantastic catch by Stokes above the England all-rounder's head at long-off.

His dismissal prompted David Miller to kick off, and he finished the innings off by scoring 26 runs from his last 11 balls, ending with 35*. But it proved too little to prevent England's destructive batting line-up from easing home to take the three-match series 2-1.

https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/1611574

 

[CricketDon]

Despite what rankings say. England is the best T20 team in the world. Period.

 

[James]

Another terrific match in this great mini-series. Thank you South Africa for hosting us and being formidable opponents.

England’s batting today - strategy, pace, execution, finishing - was absolutely superb. Not far away from faultless.

 

[Dingolfy]

England is a such a gun T20 team. No matter what Australia, India, and South Africa do, they will still be behind.

Their batting is the best in T20. But their bowling is equally poor. If Saffies can score 200 twice against them in this series, so can Australia, India, Windies and even Newzeland.
They can chase any score but so can others against their bowling.

 

[sweep_shot]

Their batting is the best in T20. But their bowling is equally poor. If Saffies can score 200 twice against them in this series, so can Australia, India, Windies and even Newzeland.
They can chase any score but so can others against their bowling.

They didn't really play their main bowlers. There was no Archer. I doubt this will be the bowling squad during the WC.