Morris the spark as SA steal three-run win
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AB
de Villiers smashed 46 off 20 before his bowlers tripped up England in the
final overs
The dismissal of Jason Roy, given out for obstructing the field, changed the
course of a game that England appeared to have won and saw South Africa level
the T20 series at 1-1 with one to play.
Roy, with his first 50 in 11 international innings, appeared
to have put England on course for a series-clinching victory as he added 110 in
70 balls with Jonny Bairstow for England's second wicket. But when Bairstow
lofted to mid-on and Roy was given out a few deliveries later, South Africa's
seamers - enjoying a track offering pace and bounce - turned the screw in
expert fashion amid failing light and mounting excitement.
The result was uncertain until the final delivery after Liam
Dawson hit the penultimate ball for four. Had it travelled another six inches,
it would have left England requiring just two to win from the final ball. As it
was, Dawson was required to hit another four (or three to ensure a Super Over)
and was unable to make contact with his heave.
While the decision to give Roy out -
made after consultation with the TV umpire - was booed by a partisan,
passionate crowd, it wasn't especially controversial. Having been sent back by
Livingstone, Roy turned to regain his ground and, in doing so, ran across the
pitch so he was in between the fielder - Andile Phehlukwayo, at point - and the stumps. The throw
subsequently hit Roy on the boot. The TV umpire, Tim Robinson, could have made
no other decision. It was, however, the first such dismissal in international
T20 cricket.
"It was probably a 50-50 call. You could see both sides
of it," England's captain, Eoin Morgan, said. "Everyone in the
changing room thought it could go either way so it's not massively
controversial. You can see why the umpires gave him out. Jason obviously looked
at the fielder but after that he ran in a straight line so that's why it was a
50-50 call. They were certainly entitled to appeal and the spirit of the game
is open to interpretation.
'We were going really well for much of the chase but we lost
a wicket at a crucial moment and nobody was able to take it up after that. We
didn't deserve to win because we didn't capitalise on the start we had."
It was not, perhaps, the result the
sell-out crowd wanted. But it was the sort of dramatic finish the occasion -
the return of men's international cricket to Taunton for the first time since the 1999
World Cup - warranted. Cheered on by 12,420, the Somerset chairman reckoned the
club could have sold out this game, only England men's second international
here and their first since the 1983 World Cup, four times over.
It seemed a mightily unlikely result
as Roy and Bairstow took control. While Roy was not, at first, at his most
fluent, such was his conviction, that the runs flowed. He took four fours
off Morne Morkel's second over - two of them edges that could have
gone anywhere - gradually settled and registered his second T20I half-century
with a straight-driven six into the Ian Botham stand off the left-arm wristspin
of Tabraiz Shamsi.
Bairstow lost little by comparison. He has waited a long
time for his opportunity in England's limited-overs teams and the evidence of
the last couple of weeks suggests he is determined to take it.
Having equalled his career-best T20I score in the first
match of this series, he made another 47 here and produced a couple of shots -
a cover-driven four off something approaching a yorker from Morkel and a pull
for six off the same bowler - that were especially memorable.
But when he chipped a full,
inswinging delivery from the excellent Chris Morris to mid-on, it initiated a collapse that saw
England lose five wickets for 42 runs in the next six overs. It was Morris,
bowling with sharp pace, who most unsettled the England batsman with Liam Livingstone, one of two debutants, finding the step up in
class tough to negotiate (he hit one boundary in 18 balls and was run out from
the fourth ball of the final over).
Phehlukwayo, who bowled a nerveless final over from which 12
were required, claimed the key wicket of Jos Buttler - the returning hero undone
by a fine yorker - while Morgan thumped a full toss to mid-on from the skiddy
pace of Dane Paterson.
Earlier Tom Curran took three wickets on debut as South Africa
were restricted to what appeared to be an under-par 174 for 8. After claiming a
wicket with his second ball in international cricket - Reeza Hendricks bottom-edging an attempted pull
on to his stumps - Curran returned to bowl the last couple of overs from the
Somerset Pavilion End and impressed with his control and variations. He claimed
two more wickets in that spell, with Morris mishitting a slower-ball to long-on
and Phehlukwayo bowled first delivery by a searing yorker. Generating
surprising pace - as high as 88mph - he did more than enough to suggest he had
a future at this level.
Liam Plunkett was the quickest of the seamers, though.
Hitting 90 mph at times, he claimed two wickets with his slower ball -
Mangaliso Mosehle gloving a pull and David Miller edging an attempted force -
while Farhaan Berhardien's promising innings was ended by a Chris Jordan
yorker.
It wasn't a flawless performance in the field from England,
though. Jordan, normally so reliable, dropped Berhardien on 11 at mid-off - the
ferocity of the drive forcing the ball through his hands and on to his jaw -
while Livingstone on the deep midwicket boundary dropped a more straightforward
chance offered by Morris on 11. England also conceded five wides, four of them
by Jordan, who also - most uncharacteristically - allowed a ball to elude his
grasp at mid-off and scurry away for four. They were to prove costly mistakes.
South Africa were grateful to a far more convincing batting
performance from AB de Villiers, in particular, and JJ Smuts. Relishing the
extra pace of the surface, de Villiers rushed to 46 in 20 deliveries with a
swept six off Dawson and a driven one off Plunkett the highlights, before he
appeared to lose his grip on the bat as he attempted to drive David Willey and
instead skied a catch to mid-off.
Smuts, hitting the ball unusually hard, also made an
accomplished 45 but the final total of 174 seemed to be around 25 under par on
a fine batting surface. South Africa's pace and England's errors, however,
meant the sides meet in Cardiff on Sunday with the series all to play for.