Eoin Morgan saw England home in the final over after Dawid Malan hit a 40-ball 55
Related: Dawid Malan steers England to T20 win over South Africa to clinch series
Related: Dawid Malan steers England to T20 win over South Africa to clinch series
Chris Jordan is talking, now England’s joint-leading IT20 wicket taker. “We got a lot of things right in the bowling department. More or less chatting every single ball to each other in the bowling department. [Making improvements] I think it was more individual, making those personal assessments, making those wrongs right.”
On Dawid Malan: “That type of innings shows why he is number one right now, soaked up a lot of pressure, assessed the situation, unfortunately got out to a very good catch.”
In the end, perhaps it just came down to England having a bigger bounce in their boot. Like the first match, South Africa had their chances, but couldn’t get over the line. Beautiful bowling from Shamsi in particular and fearsome speed from Nortje. For England, Malan was magnificent, as was Rashid.
Thanks to all of you for your company, to Nigel Smith, right now trying to drag the dog out for a walk in thick Bristolian fog, and everyone in more exotic climes. Just hanging on for the awards.
19.5 overs: England 147-6 (Jordan 6, Morgan 26) Off the penultimate ball, Chris Jordan elbow-swings Rabada to square leg and that’s the win!
Curran plays on trying to squirt a single. Three needed off four balls.
19th over: England 144-5 (Sam Curran 1, Morgan 26) Nortje takes the penultimate over, not fun for Sam Curran to walk into. Just singles and dots to take things to the final ball, but then Morgan top-edges a lucky cut just to the left of the wrong-footed de Kock. Three needed from six balls.
18th over: England 136-5 (Sam Curran 0, Morgan 20) Malan swing-balls Ngidi for four and thick-edges him the next for another. Then a straight six to bring up his fifty (39 balls). Total class. Falls at the last, but the work is (probably) done. Incidentally, does anyone else hear a resemblance between Mark Nicholas’ and Boris Johnson’s wordplay?
After a monstrous over, Malan tries a shot too far and is undone by an astonishing bit of fielding from Hendricks on the boundary who leaps into the air, catches it, senses he is about to fall over the boundary, tips it back into the air, falls over the boundary, leaps back and catches the rebound.
17th over: England 118-4 (Malan 39, Morgan 15) Malan drives Rabada past a diving fielder and picks up a run. Morgan can’t get the second away, nor the third, a snappy 89mph. A couple from the fourth, a smart cover-boundary from the fifth and four more from the last, over a stretching de Kock’s hands. Eleven from the over. 29 needed from 18 balls.
16th over: England 107-4 (Malan 38, Morgan 9) Gorgeous from Malan, four through wide extra-cover off Nortje. And another, a little more ploughman, but the same effect. 40 neeeded from four overs. South Africa at the same stage were 108-5.
John Starbuck writes with a spot of advice: “Tone White is almost certainly a painter if he’s using a sable 3 brush, though he might be a make-up artist too.”
15th over: England 97-4 (Malan 29, Morgan 8) If Eoin Morgan had an aftershave, it would surely be Insouciance! He slams Ngidi for six. Malan (Fire) cut-pings him for four.
14th over: England 85-4 (Malan 24, Morgan 1) Shamsi now has his best figures in IT20s: 3-19. Much hilarity on Sky after Nasser Hussain praises Stokes as the best slog-sweeper in cricket one ball, then he is out playing the same shot the next. England crumbling rather on a slow pitch.
His second slog-sweep of the over flops. Down on one knee, forgets to watch the ball, easy catch to de Kock.
13th over: England 77-3 (Malan 23, Stokes 10) Rabada’s back. I can tell you bog all about the over as I was so busy reading all the emails from non-exotic locations. Over to you Peter and Hugh and Graeme.
Peter Wood, “In response to your post about followers not in exotic locations, I’m you’re huckleberry. Bristol do you? Epicentre of the Coronavirus outbreak to boot surrounded, as I am, by students. It’s grey, cold and damp and I was counting on the cricket to afford, as Iggy Pop had it, a moment of pleasantry in this zombie birdhouse. Oh well; darn that dream.”
12th over: England 73-3 (Malan 21, Stokes 8) Shamsi pins Stokes on the stumps. The umpire doesn’t fancy it - but South Africa do. It pitches in line and hits, but the reluctant umpire’s call means Stokes remains. Target 74 off 48 balls.
11th over: England 58-3 (Malan 19, Stokes 7) Malan goes against the spin of Linde, beautifully holding his shape and sending the ball through cover and for four. Mark Nicholas tells us that Malan is currently the World’s no. 1 IT20 player. A surprise for everyone. Stokes reverse-golfs the last ball for four.
On Friday, I thought this @tjaldredhttps://t.co/yh2dP3N3BW
10th over: England 58-3 (Malan 12, Stokes 2) There I was contemplating England knocking this off in 14 overs. Shamsi the man, and Stokes and Malan can do no more than tip him for singles.
Bairstow decides to throw caution to the soft Paarl wind and comes a cropper, going down on one knee to lift the ball, only for it to descend into the hands of Hendricks at deep midwicket. Hero to zero, as they say, or possibly used to say.
9th over: England 55-2 (Malan 11, Baristow 3) Three dots and three singles. Hmmmm.
“After hearing of goat’s cheese pretzels and cold beef baguettes, I feel rather guilty at having enjoyed spaghetti with clams expertly cooked by my Neapolitan wife Roberta,” muses Colum. “This should be a canter for England but Roy looking very tentative. As my friend Simon pointed out to me shortly before joining the party, the ground is absolutely stunning. It’s a pretty murky day here in Naples so nice to see a sun-kissed South African ground.”
8th over: England 52-2 (Malan 9, Baristow 1) Shamsi, altogether a more stocky figures , tucked in shirt, tight-fitting green trousers, action a whirl of head and low arm. Buttler suckered! South Africa suddenly have some grip.
Buttler utterly hoodwinked. He takes three steps down the pitch, the ball spits and jags and the stumps are gone.
7th over: England 48-1 (Malan 8, Buttler 21) For Adil Rashid, read George Linde. Malan doesn’t waste his time and reverse-sweeps him straight to the boundary. Linde tall, shirt untucked, reminds me of someone - not helpful I know but I promise to tell you when I remember.
6th over: England 41-1 (Malan 2, Buttler 20) Ngidi, so useful a wicket-taker for South Africa in IT20s. Buttler plays with angles, opening the face and sending Ngidi past the short third man for four, then a lip-smacking wrist-flick, weight on the back foot, four through point. And a third! Power play comparisons - South Africa 50-2 at the same stage.
“Not quite Australian temperatures, “writes Richard Hirst, “but our part of SW France is gloriously sunny and warm - definitely cricket weather!” Perfection.
5th over: England 28-1 (Malan 1, Buttler 8) Nortje again, 149 kph, strong legs, swift arm. Malan, back at the ground where he made his first class debut, first toe-ends a yorker out, then is slammed in the left shoulder, then in the box area. He crouches down in some pain.
Tone White is lyrical on a Sunday afternoon. “Head down working on sunday but, yourself in charge, cricket somewhere in the world, sun sprinkled over my patch of S of France - even if I can’t go out - just knowing that there is sanity at large is comforting.The scores? Who cares, just lots of balls and bats and stumps and pads and umpires and howzats and all the rest of civilised life.
Phew! Now, where’s that number 3 sable hair brush?”
4th over: England 25-1 (Malan 0, Buttler 7) Yet another change as Ngidi gets a go. Roy ticks over with a straight thud for a couple, then purrs, a two-footed slam through cover for four, before trying to build a very complicated aeroplane with meccano and making a complete hash of it.
A one-legged attitude, a helicopter swing of the bat and safely pocketed this time.
3rd over: England 17-0 (Roy 8, Buttler 6) Roy is given out to Nortje’s first ball, thwacked on the ankle of his back leg, but they decide to review with milliseconds on the clock and the decision is overturned, though Roy will have a huge fat bruise to contemplate in the bubble. Nortje looks even more displeased when Rabada somehow lets the ball slip through his hands after Buttler had half-pulled to mid-on.
2nd over: England 15-0 (Roy 5, Buttler 7) Rabada takes the white ball: short, swift run-up. Roy treats the ball as if it is a particularly nasty man-eating bug, Buttler hoop him for four over backward square.
And yet another email from the frozen north, “Bet you never knew you had so many readers here in Scandinavia” taps Julian Menz. “Yes, it’s a grim day here in Sweden. I was going to go down the pub to watch the football, but am staying home.”
1st over: England 8-0 (Roy 5, Buttler 0) And, surprise, surprise, George Linde opens to Jason Roy from the Old Stables end with his left arm spin. Roy nearly replicates his dismissal in the first match to the very first ball of the game. A couple more awkward prods, before a morale-boosting thud through backward square to the boundary. Atherton thinks his batting “slump” is more to do with rustiness than weakness against spin.
A musical cricketer arrives via Mark Hooper, “Mark Butcher is a half-decent guitarist and used to be known for entertaining the pre-match Crystal Palace crowd at one of the locals near Selhurst Park.”
Will today be a Jason Roy day? He and Jos Buttler are on their way to the middle.
Really tasty goat’s-cheese bagel, though I can’t stop thinking about the stuffed parathas my friend Neeru said she was having for breakfast in Delhi this morning. Just walked in to Nasser and Wardy singing Adil Rashid’s praises and the importance of captaincy when dealing with leg-spinners.
A flurry of welcome messages: from Tom Marlow in Sweden, “Rest assured your commentary is being doggedly followed and bringing a ray of sunshine to this dank and grey Sunday afternoon”[thank you!] and Bob O’Hara in Norway.
@tjaldred no snow here in Trondheim either, we’re making do with a heavy frost. Not got above -4 all day. pic.twitter.com/iejAFZsdSg
A snappy performance in the field by England. Adil Rashid is cornered as he comes off, says the surface is, “on the slow side, there is a bit of grip there.” He feels England are comfortable chasing 147. South Africa got within touching distance of that 150 in the end, thanks to the partnership of 44 between George Linde and van der Dussen. Time for a quick bite to eat, back in five mins.
20th over: South Africa 146-6 (Rabada 5, van der Dussen 25) Eoin Morgan showing great faith in Tom Curran, trusting him with the final over. Both Rabada and van der Dussen fail to capitalise on a couple of full tosses, then Rabada drives on one knee, drilling the ball past the grasping hand of Jordan down on the boundary. A bye off the last ball and that’s that.
19th over: South Africa 139-6 (Rabada 0, van der Dussen 24) Linde and van der Dussen pick up the pace, Linde dances Jordan through third man for four, then the pair canter between the wickets, Linde throwing himself full length at the crease. That third off the last ball was greedy, but still 12 from the over.
“On the east coast here, Tanya,” replies Simon McMahon, “so no snow yet, though might have to break with tradition early this year and put the kilt away and turn the heating on for an hour if this cold spell continues. Or I could just crack open the whisky I suppose.” Would it be terribly southern to suggest both?
Stokes slips in the field, South Africa try to steal a third, but underestimate Stokes’ arm and Jordan removes the bails with Linde well short.
18th over: South Africa 127-5 (Linde 18, van der Dussen 23) Boundaries! Galore! Linde gets down on one knee and slams Tom Curran through cover for four, then lofts him for six towards the police van parked on the boundary. Fifteen off the over. Two to go.
“Hi Tanya.” “Hello Peter Rowntree!”
“I am sure that there must be quite a few good musicians amongst the current cricketer crop, guitar players and the like. But one who was quite a notable musician from time past was Phil Sharpe who was quite a useful and noted Ukulele player.”
17th over: South Africa 112-5 (Linde 6, van der Dussen 21) The pavilion at Paarl is low, with a pale-green roof, the stands nicely shaded for the ghosts who currently sit there. Archer slides in, on target, snappy, unhittable. Gives one away at the end with a too-short bouncer. Four off the over and a tasty day’s work by Archer.
16th over: South Africa 108-5 (Linde 5, van der Dussen 19) Jordan’s third over doesn’t give South Africa much respite, apart from a wild wide.
An email! Thank you Simon McMahon, “Afternoon Tanya. Mixed feelings about those pictures from Sydney and Paarl, seeing as it’s currently about 2 degrees above freezing here in (admittedly a dry, sunny) Scotland. Still, international cricket is back and that’s got to be good news wherever you are. Roll on 2021 though, I think a world record beer snake is on the cards next summer ...”
15th over: South Africa 102-5 (Linde 4, van der Dussen 15) Archer back, and immediately has a two-armed lbw shout against Linde , but England don’t review. Tv replays prove them right. Just five singles from the over and 150 is disappearing over the horizon. There is literally not a cloud at the sky.
14th over: South Africa 97-5 (Linde 2, van der Dussen 12) Things slip-slipping away here for South Africa, with just the bowlers left to have a bat. A much better afternoon for Tom Curran here.
Back of the hand from Tom Curran, Klaasen doesn’t pick it and slumps the ball straight into the safe hands of a bent-kneed Stokes at mid-wicket.
13th over: South Africa 92-4 (Klaasen 6, van der Dussen 10) The empty grass banks makes this look like a club ground, a beautifully inviting one on a warm afternoon. Rashid slides through another over surely enough, apart from one that slips through for five wides.
“The less Adil Rashid spins it, the more effective he is these days @tjaldred,” types Gary Naylor. “ His reputation produces a demon or two in the batsmen’s minds and his control and changes of pace stops any batsman getting set. Like Warne, he’s reached a point where his errors are just variations.”
12th over: South Africa 82-4 (Klaasen 4, van der Dussen 7) Dot, dot, one from Jordan ,who hoovers up the balls to an empty stadium. A slow pitch not helping South Africa put their foot on the gas. Klaasen scampers through for a second off the last ball.
11th over: South Africa 77-4 (Klaasen 1, van der Dussen 5) South Africa are tentative, very tentative, now against Rashid as Klaasen survives the hat-trick ball.
Hello John Starbuck!. “I reckon following the OBO whist eating a Sunday lunch might be tricky. I have just finished a cold beef sandwich involving a (home-baked) baguette with Dijon mustard, but then we tend to dine in the evening. On Sunday, we record the Strictly results show and watch it afterwards. Bill Bailey is going very well, isn’t he? See today’s Observer piece on him, where he’s revealed as a useful cricketer in his youth. Are there many cricketers who are also excellent musicians?”
Rashid throws it up and du Plessis canters out of his crease, the ball beats his bat and it is an easy as apple crumble stumping for Buttler.
10th over: South Africa 75-3 (du Plessis 11, van der Dussen 4) Not Stokes’ best - first ball short and du Plessis flicks him over midwicket for four; then a bouncer down legside called wide.
9th over: South Africa 61-3 (du Plessis 5, van der Dussen 0) Rashid mixing it up, one huge googly miscued to short fine leg by Hendricks. Then a nice little reverse paddle, imagine a child on a cobbled street urging along a hoop, for four before Hendricks is deceived.
Has a go at sweeping but done in the flight and that’s Rashid’s 5oth IT20 wicket in his 51st match.
8th over: South Africa 58-2 (du Plessis 5, Hendricks 10) Stokes replaces Jordan as Morgan rings the changes, his various injuries clearly ointmented to fruition. Four singles and two dots will do the trick.
“If the 1st iteration of white ball batting innovation was about new shots and the 2nd about range hitting, I think I’ve glimpsed the 3rd today @tjaldred,” tweets Gary Naylor. “Steven Smith was clearly placing the ball like a golfer managing a course, more than I’ve seen any other batter. Extraordinary”
7th over: South Africa 54-2 (du Plessis 3, Hendricks 8) Morgan hauls on Rashid immediately after the power play. His slight figure squirrels through the over. Hendricks has a wild one-kneed swing but it falls safe.
6th over: South Africa 50-2 (du Plessis 1, Hendricks 6) Chris Jordan is now the joint highest wicket taker for England in IT20s (alongside Stuart Broad - which is a surprise to me, if no-one else) and England will be broadly satisfied after that power play.
Smashing catch by Tom Curran at mid-on who throws himself skyward and tumbles backwards with the ball at his hand. Not enough whallop by de Kock. A big blow by England.
5th over: South Africa 44-1 (de Kock 26, Hendricks 5) Time for a bit of Tom Curran - seems as good a time as any for someone who had a ropey previous game, with South Africa having to rebuild. It isn’t vintage Curran though, de Kock pans him to backward square, and Hendricks flicks a shortish ball on legside off his pads for four to get off the mark.
4th over: South Africa 33-1 (de Kock 20, Hendricks 0) A bouncer finishes off a prowling over from Archer.
Middle stump yorker! Bavumas tries to flick high to leg but is utterly deceived and trudges slowly away.
3rd over: South Africa 26-0 (de Kock 17, Bavuma 9) The frustration didn’t last long. After surviving a bouncer,de Kock swivel pulls Curran with the wind for four, and again, scoops him for six way over Archer’s head. Then Bavuma, an audacious ramp, rather awkward to be honest, with his head down - but a boundary nonetheless. Things ticking over nicely for South Africa.
2nd over: South Africa 9-0 (de Kock 6, Bavuma 3) Archer at the Nederburg end has the wind behind him. He glides in towards the mountains and a line of green trees, all tipping slightly to the left. Archer already throwing out balls in the high 80s, and one over 90, and finishes with a bounces that passes over Bavuma’s ear. I can taste de Kock’s frustration from here.
1st over: South Africa 7-0 (de Kock 5, Bavuma 2) Sam Curran scurries in from the Old Stables End, Bavuma squirts a single off the first ball, and so it continues for the rest of the over. The breeze is coming in over midwicket, billowing the flags and shifting across the ground. The pitch has been freshly rolled out for afternoon mince pies - a rich brown.
Out swagger Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma to attack those big Boland boundaries. Sam Curran has the ball...
Those mountains are really rather hypnotic. Play will start in five minutes - time to grab a coffee. Another coffee. Anyone having Sunday roast?
Looking forward to a speedster battle between Anrich Nortje (top speed 97mph) and Jofra Archer.
South Africa: 1 Quinton de Kock (cpt, wk), 2 Reeza Hendricks, 3 Temba Bavuma, 4 Faf du Plessis, 5 Rassie van der Dussen, 6 Heinrich Klaasen, 7 George Linde, 8 Lungi Ngidi, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Anrich Nortje, 11 Tabraiz Shamsi
England: 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jos Buttler (wk), 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Jonny Bairstow, 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Eoin Morgan (cpt), 7 Sam Curran, 8 Tom Curran, 9 Chris Jordan, 10 Jofra Archer, 11 Adil Rashid
Do drop me a line or two if you’re hankering down with time on your hands. Jonny Bairstow is being interviewed in front of the Drakestein Mountains, hair and beard glorious in its gingerness. Nasser probes : “Where would you rather bat?” YJB plays a straight bat. “I’ll do whatever Morgs wants us to do, there are about six guys who want to open the batting.” Nasser: “Do you ever feel it is always you?” YJB: slightly less straight bat. “Sometimes, but you’ve got to take it as a compliment.”
Sky have just switched from highlights of the last match to Boland Park, where the sky - oh the sky - is the deepest, most brilliant periwinkle blue.
England have won the toss and will bowl. The two captains are standing, socially distanced, in front of two microphones where there is a technical hitch or three. But the important news is: England are unchanged; South Africa have made two changes, with Hendricks and Nortje coming in.
No news yet on the teams, though rumours are that Mark Wood may get a game in place of the out-of-sorts Tom Curran (are he and Sam like weather-house, with only one in form at a time?) And thanks to Ali for this little nugget - Dawid Malan is returning to the scene of his first-class debut in 2006, playing for Boland v Border.
Some Sunday stats:
Most runs scored in a men's ODI in Australia:
727 AUS v IND today
688 AUS v SL, 2015
682 AUS v IND, Friday#AUSvIND
The Australia v India match has finished, with India falling short by 51 runs in the end. Read how it happened here. And just look at that Sydney Sky...
Related: Australia v India: second one-day international – live!
Golden hour at the @scg. #AUSvINDpic.twitter.com/iKBjk3l5Qg
Poor Ali Martin...
Beautiful day in Paarl for the 2nd T20i between South Africa and England pic.twitter.com/mVDNcMxUc0
Elsewhere, New Zealand have defeated West Indies by a crushing 72 runs, thanks to a hundred from Glenn Philips in the second IT20, and a humdinger is coming to a conclusion at Sydney where Virat Kohli (89) and Rahul’s (76) efforts look like they’ll be in vain against Australia’s mammoth 389 - thanks to a hundred from Steve Smith and late order pinging from Glenn Maxwell.
Good morning from Manchester, where November is seeping through the letter box in all its gloom. Luckily, there is sunshine somewhere more southerly, Paarl, where England and South Africa are about to start the second IT20 of a three match competition.
Eoin Morgan called England’s last performance “pretty average”: he doesn’t hand out gongs easily. Bairstow blasted 86 from his new position at No. 4 and Sam Curran slipped easily into Moeen Ali’s No.7 shoes. Jason Roy got a second ball duck in what has been a tricky year for him, and Tom Curran was knocked for his most expensive figures in IT20s, though didn’t have as bad a time as Beuran Hendricks - whose awful last over went for 28. South African left-arm spinner Georg Linde had a quietly impressive debut, dismissing Roy and Malan in the power play.
Continue reading...