With regard to white ball cricket, England has struggled, and today’s performance was again another illustration of this. Even though 208 was a big target, they never really challenged since every time they did, they lost a wicket, eventually losing the match by 48 runs.
Chris Jordan, with his rapid-fire yorkers, and Curran, with some deftly combined slower balls, were quite precise in the first innings where South Africa was batting. Topley was also quite impressive. But Rilee Rossouw’s return from a Kolpak deal, where he lost six years of his South African cricket career, and production of a masterpiece of a knock is the real story. Hendricks reached his second consecutive fifty as an opener before Rossouw just took off helping South Africa score 207 runs in 20 overs.
Although 208 was a lofty goal, England never really dared to threaten visitors since every time they did, they lost a wicket. SA had good seam and spin. The middle overs were handled by spinners, and seamers handled the remaining work. Shamsi bowled it more slowly to entice errors from the batters. The England chase was completely destroyed by the wickets in the middle overs as England got all out on 149 runs. The team lost the match by 48 runs!
The losing captain Jos Butler said, “I think it was a good wicket. So many of us including me got starts but didn’t convert it like Rilee. We haven’t played to the level we are known to play for. Individually as well as collectively we need to improve. It should be a great decider at Ageas Bowl.”
The winning and visiting captain David Miller talked about the victory as he said, “We will take a win. A good turnaround for us. A great performance. We had one or two meetings to clear up from last night. We picked ourselves up. I am really chuffed with the bowlers. They made it easier for me by picking up wickets. I wasn’t juggling around too much as they executed really well. Massive boundaries out there. It was a left-right combination that we had to keep in mind.”
Both teams are leveled at 1-1 after back-to-back games. As SA improved from yesterday’s mediocrity to demonstrate some prowess today, England fared well yesterday and got their comeuppance today. T20s call for quickness, and we’ve seen that one that matches it on the day wins the match. The series finale to be held on 31 July will again be fantastic.
PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Rilee Rossouw
