England lose third white-ball series of the summer after imploding in steep chase
Firdose Moonda31-Jul-2022 first over. David Willey was rotated out of the playing XI for the first two T20Is but made an immediate impact on his return when he removed Quinton de Kock with the third ball of the innings. Willey pitched it up from the get-go, de Kock defended, then he prodded and then he attempted a lazy drive, with no foot movement and dragged the ball on to his leg stump. For the third match in succession, de Kock was the first man out and he could so very nearly have been followed by Rilee Rossouw. Willey got the ball to move away from the left-hander twice and then to straighten and hit his back pad. Jos Buttler was convinced to review but ball-tracking showed it was just going over leg stump and Rossouw survived. Still, it was an impressive opening over, the first scoreless one of the series. Willey bowled three overs up front and returned at the death, where he took two wickets in the final over.Reeza and Rilee reunite The two former Knights team-mates (the franchise that played out of Bloemfontein in South Africa) came together again for the first time in Cardiff, with 73 for the second-wicket, before they put South Africa on track with a 55-run stand in this match. Hendricks and Rossouw complement each other well, with Rossouw the more powerful hitter and Hendricks able to thread through gaps. Their right-left combination and athleticism between the wickets means they’re constantly keeping the opposition attack on their toes. Rossouw was particularly severe on Chris Jordan, who he hit for four fours in the final over of the Powerplay in a demonstration of finesse – the dab through backward point – and luck – the chop past the stumps – and power – the back-to-back drills through the offside. Just as the pair looked fairly immovable, Moeen Ali drew Rossouw forward with a delivery that spun past the outside edge and bowled him. Strangely, that was the only over Moeen bowled. And then Markram makes his pointEngland put the brakes immediately after the powerplay and South Africa went 6.2 overs without a boundary before Markram pulled Jordan through midwicket for four. In the same period, they only faced three dot balls. Markram was left out of the first two matches in favour of Heinrich Klaasen but showed why his presence in the middle-order is so essential to South Africa’s line-up. He shared in an 87-run third-wicket stand with Hendricks, and a 41-run fourth wicket partnership with Miller to push South Africa over 180. Most of Markram’s innings was about strike rotation, with 21 singles and five twos in his innings, reaching fifty from 36 balls.Jason Roy wonders what would have been after another low score•AFP/Getty Images
Maharaj-Nortje one-two does for openersSouth Africa made clever use of their left-arm spinner and fastest bowler in England’s powerplay and both were rewarded with wickets. They shared the new ball for a combination of slow strangle on one end and absolute gas at the other, with Nortje reaching a pace of up to 93mph/149kph before Maharaj switched to Nortje’s end. Buttler tried to make room for himself to cut Maharaj through the off side but sent a thick edge to Lungi Ngidi at backward point. Nortje then came back on, hurled down a 91mph/146kph fireball, Jason Roy swiped across the line, top-edged and de Kock did the rest. Roy averages 12.67 from six home T20Is this summer and last scored a fifty eight innings ago. Nortje went on to pepper Jonny Bairstow with quick ones and touched 94mph/151kph in that over.Stubbs steals the show He did it with the bat in Bristol, and scooped a spectacular catch in Southampton to all but end England’s chances. Tristan Stubbs was at cover when Moeen hit Markram to his left, and seemed to have found a gap. Stubbs moved quickly and then launched himself full-length, stuck out his left hand and snatched the ball from almost behind him to leave England 59 for 4 after 10 overs. They needed 133 runs off the last ten overs and were bowled out in 17 overs.
