South Africa crashed to a humiliating 146-run defeat at the hands of hosts England at Emirates Old Trafford in Manchester. South Africa, who came into this game with a 1-0 lead in the series were thoroughly outplayed by England in all facets of the game as the series was levelled at 1-1. While England had a field day and had lots of positives, South Africa were exposed in all facets of the game. We will try and list out three reasons for their loss in this game.
Inability to stop Philip Salt hurt South Africa badly
Phil Salt was a man possessed at his home ground at Old Trafford. He came out all guns blazing after England were asked to bat first by Aiden Markram. It was batting of the highest quality from Salt while South African bowlers were all over the place against him. They seemed to have no planning against the swashbuckling right-handed batter. Salt dominated South Africa from the get go.
He converted his start into a huge score as he got to his 4th T20I hundred and also got to the highest individual score by an English batter in T20Is as records broke like nine pins at Old Trafford. It was the first time that England crossed 300 in T20Is as it was a field day for him. He was ably supported by Jos Buttler initially who made 83 off 30 balls while Salt made 141 off 60 balls. Jacob Bethell and Harry Brook chipped in later on, but it was Salt all the way.
The South Africans had no planning whatsoever and bowled too many length balls and were dispatched away with ease. Salt was seeing the ball like a football last night. Going forward, South Africa needs to come up with better planning and better execution against Salt to have any chance of containing England. It was one way traffic last night apart from the toss that South Africa won. This performance will raise concern for South Africa and its fans.
Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen & Lizaad Williams going the distance and being wicketless creates problems for South Africa
It was a night to forget for the South African bowlers if we are being brutally honest. They went the distance and bowled the wrong lines and lengths on that pitch. Yes, the pitch was a belter and England came out all guns blazing, but the manner of damage was appalling to say the least. All the main bowlers of South Africa went for runs and came home empty handed. This was too easy for England batters.
Marco Jansen went for 60 runs in 4 overs. Kagiso Rabada went for 70 runs in 4 overs and bowled a flurry of no balls towards the end. Lizaad Williams went for 62 in 3 overs. The three bowlers mentioned here did not pick up a single wicket and went the distance by a huge way. Kwena Maphaka was slightly better as he gave away 41 runs in 4 overs. Bjorn Fortuin walked away with a couple of wickets for 52 runs in 4 overs. It was a night to forget for the Proteas bowlers especially the speedsters and spearheads at the top and they need to look at the areas they bowled and how to get better at execution.
There is only a day’s gap between this game and the game on Sunday at Nottingham. South Africa needs to forget this bowling performance quickly, delete it from their memory and come back stronger for the decider against England who have the momentum with them with this win. The bowlers need to stand up and knowing them, they will bounce back but this was a performance that left a lot to be desired as all batters took advantage of it.
South Africa’s batting caved in under scoreboard pressure
Chasing 305 was always going to be a tough task and almost impossible. People still expected South Africa to come close and make a match out of it on a flat deck as England’s bowling isn’t the strongest. But the hosts had runs on the board and despite South Africa kept on losing wickets and were eventually bowled out in 16.1 overs as they had no choice but to go for the runs. Some of them got starts, but couldn’t kick on with it.
Captain Aiden Markram fought hard for his 41 off 20 balls while Ryan Rickelton made 20 off 10 balls. Tristan Stubbs made 23 runs but took 25 balls in getting there. Donovan Ferreira made 23 off 11 balls. Bjorn Fortuin had a decent day as he scored 32 off 16 balls after getting two wickets with the ball. But there was no big innings like Salt or Buttler for that matter to make a match out of it. On a flat deck, South Africa should have at least got closer to the target may be get 200+ but the scoreboard pressure was too much for them.
Going forward, South Africa would want to improve in all departments of the game for the game on Sunday if they want to win the T20I series. It’s not going to be easy against England who are in form now but the Proteas have a lot of gaping holes they need to fill as this kind of performance leaves a lot to be desired and questions their preparation for the T20 World Cup 2026 in the sub-continent.
What Lies Ahead
With England winning this match and levelling the series at 1-1, the stage is set for the third and final T20I which will be the deciding one as well at Trent Bridge in Nottingham on Sunday 14th September 2025 at 7 PM IST as this will be a day game to round off the series. Can England clinch the series with renewed momentum on their side or will South Africa bounce back and win the T20 leg of the series as well?
Find out all the answers on Super Sunday when the match comes your way at 7 PM as both teams won’t want to give an inch to each other, that’s per sure and we will wait and see how things unfold from here.
Also Read: ENG vs SA: High Flying South Africa Aim To Clinch Series Against Depleted England