As the 1st T20I between South Africa and England is officially over, this was a bit of a weird match since it was extremely shortened, but one side found a way to still win pretty easily. Seeing that it was this Proteas side who easily ended up winning by 14 runs, they are up 1-0 in the series and looked strong in all aspects. Although they got the sad news that Lungi Ngidi will no longer be available for this series before the match, there proved to be more than enough depth for them to look dominant once again. Captain Aiden Markram was a great veteran leader who helped attack at the beginning and created a very good blueprint for his side to take advantage of all their strengths.
Meanwhile, England will need to figure out things after another white-ball loss, since they are already under heavy pressure. Not being able to answer the call time in and time out, this is all really important since their schedule doesn’t get any easier than this, with New Zealand up next after a small trip to Ireland. A group that’s missing Jamie Smith and didn’t have Jofra Archer playing today because of the surface, it will be vital that they are fully healthy so England’s cricket side can get back on track. With Harry Brook leading their side again, he did show some improvement as a leader, but really needs to hone in on increasing his teammates’ motivation during each match.
South Africa: Absolutely Smashing Innings Despite Losing Wickets Quickly
Looking at the Proteas batting attack today, they understood their purpose in this limited-overs match and kept going for big shots rather than being defensive. Opening was Aiden Markram, who hit a stunning 28 runs of 14 balls as he continuously got saved from several England dropped catches.
Taking command of the early past as their captain, his boundary hitting was unbelievable since he smoked two fours plus a couple of huge maximums. On the other end, as Ryan Rickleton got out for a duck-out, there was a little bit of trouble since Lhuan-Dre Pretorious also got out on in quick succession. With Markram falling after them at 37/3, their biggest partnership of this short innings began.
It was between two power hitters in Donovan Ferreira, plus Dewald Brevis, as they scored a combined 36 and were able to help their team past the 70 mark. With Brevis scoring 23 of just 10 deliveries, his strength of hitting sixes was on full display, as this 22-year-old piece kept on getting more dangerous. Knowing that he had the ability to hit from his initial ball itself, that is what he proved once again, while Ferreira really started taking off when he was removed. Scoring 25 of his own, this was someone who started going big on his own with three massive maximums and looked like he was playing both spin plus pace extremely well. Seeing that Stubbs added a quick-fire 13, Marco Jansen was set to bat before rain struck at the 7.5 over mark.
England: Bowlers Removed Opponents, But Were Very Up-and-Down Too
For England’s bowling attack, they were missing some big pieces during this match, which really cost them, despite having also shown strength in creating pressure. On a day with mixed results, Luke Wood had made a major impact after removing two key batsmen and really relieving a little pressure from this English side.
Although he did allow about 11 runs per over, this was partly due to a lot of risk-taking in his deliveries, and sometimes missing his length. Sam Curran was also another positive piece as he took the important wicket of Dewald Brevis in the first ball itself and seemed a little more economical than the rest of this attack’s pieces.
Talking about their struggles, Jamie Overton had a day to forget as he didn’t even get through his two overs and gave up 24 runs. Someone who batsmen were looking to attack and knew was going to be a favorable opponent, his wicket-taking threat was not there at all, despite getting one today.
Spinning-wise, Adil Rashid was extremely impactful during his first over as he not only removed Markram, but also limited batsmen to hitting singles against him. As he started strong, the second part of his spell was much weaker since he let 16 of that over and looked helpless with power-hitters going right after his spin. Getting no swing on the ball either, Liam Dawson also had one pretty expensive over as a left-handed orthodox option.
England: Struggling Day For What Should Have Been A Loaded Unit
The starting batters for England couldn’t produce much during this heavy chase, which led to way too much pressure for their back-order. A group that lost Phil Salt on the very first ball, there was already trouble brewing for them since neither Jamie Smith nor Ben Duckett was there.
Coming in at one-down, Jacob Bethell had a couple clean shots and built a strong partnership with Jos Buttler. A duo that went for 17, it seemed like something was changing before the left-handed youngster was removed by getting caught by Donovan Ferriera. With captain Harry Brook coming in to create a match-winning partnership with Buttler, they couldn’t make anything out of their time together at the crease as he left for 0.
Jos Buttler continued doing his thing at his end by trying to single-handedly carry his side back, but fell after knocking in a glorious 25-run knock. Scoring it off just 11 balls, he was on point with three enormous sixes, while showing brilliant stroke play and hitting a four. Seeing that he had been removed, it was almost set and done for England, since Tom Banton also wasn’t able to create any pressure and just put up a mere 5 runs. As soon as he was removed, the last hopes were Will Jacks and Sam Curran to finish this match off in style over that last over. Something that seemed possible with Curran hitting a six, he couldn’t hit another boundary, and kept going for singles, which caused England to lose by 14 runs.
South Africa: Bowling Unit Dominated Their Overs In Crunch Time
South Africa’s bowling attack was key in this match as they became a big reason why they were able to edge this match today. The return of left-handed Marco Jansen was vital as he bowled two tremendous overs and picked up key wickets. Removing both Jacob Bethell and Josh Buttler, his pace was really strong even when the conditions were are rough as they were today.
Corbin Bosch came from the right side and also removed two batsmen of his own, while only allowing 2 boundaries in 12 balls. A big piece who continued changing his pace, he was very impactful after Kagiso Rabada had another fiery opening frame, where he looked like a real pace threat.
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