Cape Town - All hail Chris Morris! The lanky all-rounder was the hero again for the Proteas as they squeaked home off the last ball of the T20 international against England at Newlands on Friday night.
Morris walked in with South Africa in deep trouble at 114/6 off 18.1 overs, and needing 21 runs to win off 11 balls. He got three runs off his first two balls, and then watched as David Wiese got an inside edge on to his stumps when chasing a wide delivery from Chris Jordan to be out for two.
That meant it was all up to Morris, as Kyle Abbott came in to bat. Abbott cleverly got a single off the first ball of the final over from Reece Topley, and Morris needed to get 14 for victory off five balls.
The Titans all-rounded called on all the skills and power that was evident at the Wanderers a few weeks ago as he laid into Topley, slamming a low full toss through cover for four and then dispatching another full toss over midwicket for six.
The Proteas needed four to win off three balls, but Morris mistimed the next ball straight back to Topley. He managed to score two to Joe Root at wide long-off, which meant that South Africa needed two runs to win off the last ball, or a single to tie the game.
With the capacity Newlands crowd on their feet, Morris launched another off-drive to Root, which went straight to the fielder. Abbott, though, came for the second anyway and would’ve been well short of his ground, but Topley fumbled the ball next to the stumps to hand the Proteas a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
But Proteas coach Russell Domingo will be disappointed with the batting effort after his team were sharp and energetic in the field to restrict England to 134/8 in their 20 overs.
The South Africans didn’t need to take any major risks as the required run-rate was just 6.75, but they contrived to somehow get out by forcing the pace when they didn’t need to.
AB de Villiers (7) tried to pull Jordan, but got a top-edge to Alex Hales at fine leg after a solid stand of 31 with Hashim Amla off 4.2 overs. Amla then followed four runs later for 22 when he looked to work Ben Stokes off his pads, only to get a leading edge to David Willey at mid-on.
Things seemed to settle down as captain Faf du Plessis – although he battled with his timing throughout his innings – and JP Duminy knocked the ball around comfortably during a 41-run partnership for the third wicket.
But when on 23, Duminy lost patience off Adil Rashid and went for the maximum over long-on, only to hold out to Root on the boundary.
Skipper Du Plessis got out in almost the exact fashion 22 runs later as he tried to loft Moeen Ali over long-on, but found Stokes on the ropes to be out for 25 off 30 balls (1x4).
Suddenly the Proteas were making heavy weather of what should’ve been a relatively straightforward chase, and worse was to follow when Rilee Rossouw (18) – who was hitting the ball cleanly – went to sweep Moeen, but top-edged to Rashid at short fine leg.
David Miller didn’t last long either, and clearly didn’t learn anything out of his teammates’ mistakes as he tried to clear Jordan long-on, but was caught by Root on the boundary for 13.
South Africa were 114/6 in 18.1 overs, and then Wiese departed before Morris came in to save the day.
Earlier, Imran Tahir equalled his career-best figures of 4/21 in four overs as the Proteas bowled and fielded superbly after Du Plessis won the toss and chose to field first.
England wicket-keeper Jos Buttler (32 not out off 30 balls, 2x4) was the only batsman to pass 30 in the match as the visitors lost wickets at regular intervals on a slowish pitch.
Eoin Morgan’s team were guilty of the same battling flaws as the South Africans as they were unable to put together any meaningful partnerships.
The final game of the England tour is the second T20 international at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Sunday (2.30pm start).
@IndyCapeSport
Independent Media