| Second Twenty20, Boland Park, Paarl |
| South Africa 146-6 (20 overs): De Kock 30 (18), Rashid 2-23 |
| England 148-6 (19.5 overs): Malan 55 (40), Shamsi 3-19 |
| England won by four wickets; lead series 2-0 |
| Scorecard |
Dawid Malan helped England edge to a four-wicket win over South Africa in the second Twenty20 to wrap up the series with a game to spare.
Malan’s 55 from 40 balls led England’s recovery from 83-4 as they chased 147 for victory, following spinner Tabraiz Shamsi’s T20-best 3-19 in Paarl.
Malan fell with 13 runs needed but captain Eoin Morgan marshalled his side over the line with one ball remaining.
South Africa earlier limped to 146-6 as Adil Rashid took 2-23.
Malan, playing on the ground where he made his first-class debut, paced himself well, hitting seven fours and one six to reduce England’s target to a run a ball.
The Proteas seemed to have the match in their grasp at the halfway stage of England’s chase, but once again fell short in the key moments.
The final match of the series takes place in Cape Town on Tuesday at 16:00 GMT.
England win but Roy questions remain
A tight victory on a slow pitch – which England are likely to see much of in India during the next T20 World Cup – bodes well for Morgan’s side.
Malan, as he often does, began slowly, moving to 19 from 21 balls before he and Morgan hit out. Both players attacked pace bowler Anrich Nortje, with Morgan hitting him down the ground for six before Malan struck back-to-back fours.
His half-century from 39 balls was brought up with a classy, straight six but his dismissal off the next delivery could have left England in trouble.
Instead, Morgan went on the attack, hitting Kagiso Rabada for consecutive fours in the 17th over.
Despite the win, the form of Jason Roy will still concern England. His highest score in six home one-day internationals this summer was 24 and he has managed only 14 runs in two T20s in South Africa.
His innings at Boland Park was frenetic. Having overturned an lbw verdict against Nortje, he could not make it count, eventually skying Lungi Ngidi to cover.
Shamsi benefited on a surface that proved difficult to hit out on. The left-arm wrist spinner bowled Jos Buttler as he charged down the pitch, before having Jonny Bairstow caught at deep mid-wicket and inducing a top edge from a Ben Stokes sweep.
Nortje, too, was excellent with his extra pace but South Africa will rue letting another match seemingly slip from their grasp following England’s successful chase in Cape Town on Friday.
Proteas stumble to lacklustre total
South Africa still have many issues to address with their batting with the World Cup under a year away.
Openers De Kock and Temba Bavuma raced to 33-0, with De Kock taking advantage of a poor first over from Tom Curran, but the two were checked by England’s pace bowlers.
Bavuma missed a swipe across the line and was bowled by Jofra Archer before De Kock was well caught by a backpedalling Tom Curran at mid-on off Chris Jordan.
However, they were smothered by leg-spinner Rashid, who varied his pace and flight to dry up the run rate.
It led to batsmen making poor decisions, none more so that Faf du Plessis, who looked in fine touch before being stumped by Buttler to leave South Africa 75-4.
There was not a boundary off the bat for eight overs before George Linde broke the shackles in the 18th over. He followed it up with a six over mid-wicket, but the Proteas left it too late to kick on.
‘My high school coach was throwing balls back’ – what they said
Man of the match Dawid Malan: “When I was fielding on one side of the ground my high school coach was one of the guys throwing the ball back, then in the stand was the guy that throws balls to me when I come back to visit my parents. It’s always nice to come back. “The way the rankings work highlights consistency and it’s something that I’ve been really proud of.
“But if you start getting too far ahead of yourself, it’s a great way of bringing you back down to earth.”
England captain Eoin Morgan on Sky Sports: “Experience helps in holding your nerve. Today’s performance was very pleasing.
“Everyone in the changing room will applaud the bowling unit. Everybody contributed.”
South Africa captain Quinton de Kock on Sky Sports: “Dawid batted really well. The captain came in and finished it off.
“Once again the guys played really well – it just wasn’t the day for us. We’ve got to keep going and keep learning. I said 150 could be a good score here.”
Article courtesy of BBC Sport
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