So... England again won the toss and chose to field. Morgan chose to name an unchanged team, while SA welcomed back Nortje and Reeva Hendricks.
South Africa never really got going in their innings, de Kock made 30 and Linde made a good 29; with a talking point being Van Der Dussen making a very slow 25*. They only made 146-6, with Rashid (2-23) and Archer (1-18) being the stars of the show. Tom Curran was better than Friday but still struggled and was again expensive.
England’s innings also never really got going, thanks to a mix of a difficult pitch, great bowling and poor shot selection. Jason Roy looked particularly sketchy and in desperate need of some form... and then got out straight after his best two shots in a long time! Nortje bowled rocket after rocket in his spells and Shamsi was extremely impressive as he picked up career best figures of 3-19.
Despite this, the class and strength of the England batting line up persevered. There has been some questions of David Malan and his slow starts (crazy when he’s ranked as the worlds best T20 batsman surely?) but his 55 today was the stand out contribution from both teams with the bat; and it took a great Reeza Hendricks catch to remove him once he’d got England to needing a run per ball. Morgan then finished the job off for England (with a little assistance from Chris Jordan), showing again that he is maybe the finisher they’ve been searching for.
England of course won the series as well today, taking an unassailable 2-0 lead with 1 to play.
Following the game, questions have to remain around the inclusion of Tom Curran; with Wood, Topley and even Willey (sat back in England) surely asking why on earth they are not ahead of him in the pecking order. Jason Roy is another who is under increasing pressure, although he may be given more time purely due to his lack of cricket in the last 12 months. Some though may be questioning whether this is where England may regret their stance on Alex Hales? Fortunately Malan has made the number 3 spot his own and deserves to be one of the first names on the team sheet.
South Africa meanwhile may want to look at a change in their batting order, with Bavuma not looking like an opener and Van Der Dussen showing that he is a slow starter who may be more suited to a number 3 anchor role like D.Malan. Their bowling attack looks brilliant, and I’m sure if they can add in Morris, Miller and/or Phehlukwayo they will be a force to be reckoned with; and then there is still the big AB de Villiers question.
Let us know your thoughts on the game and our content so far.
Have a good week, we will see you Tuesday for the last T20 and of course...Go Well!
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