England beat South Africa by four wickets to take 2-0 unassailable lead in T20I series
Paarl [South Africa], November 29 Dawid Malan’s half-century guided England to a four-wicket win over South Africa in the second T20I here at Boland Park on Sunday.
With this win, England had an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match T20I series.
Chasing a moderate target of 147, openers Jason Roy and Jos Buttler had a 25-run stand for the first wicket. Lungi Ngidi scalped Roy (14) in the fourth over and provided the breakthrough for the hosts.
Dawid Malan joined Buttler in the middle and the duo added 26-run for the second wicket. The latter departed after playing a knock of 22 off 15 balls.
Tabraiz Shamsi removed Buttler in the eighth over. Johnny Bairstow (3) failed to impress with the bat as Shamsi send him back to the pavilion.
Ben Stokes came in to bat at number five. He along with Malan stitched a brief 28-run partnership. Stokes departed after playing a knock of 16 runs.
Skipper Eoin Morgan joined Malan in the middle and added a 51-run partnership for the fifth wicket. Meanwhile, the duo guided the side to the 100-run mark while Malan smashed his half-century.
Ngidi removed Malan (55 off 40) in the 18th over. At that moment, Malan had already done the work for his side and the win was just a formality.
Sam Curran was dismissed by Kagiso Rabada in the last over of the innings. Morgan remained unbeaten on 26 while Chris Jordan scored 3 not out as England chased the target with one ball to spare.
For South Africa, Shamsi bagged three wickets while Ngidi clinched two scalps.
Earlier, Quinton de Kock and George Linde powered the home side to a respectable total of 146/7 in their 20 overs.
Proteas batsmen do get the start but they failed to convert that into a big total. Apart from De Kock (30), Linde (29) and Rassie van der Dussen (25*) no other batter was able to covert their knocks.
For England, Adil Rashid finished with the best figures of 2-23 in his four overs.
Brief scores: South Africa 146/6 (Quinton de Kock 30, George Linde 29, Adil Rashid 2-23) lost to England 150/6 (Dawid Malan 55, Eoin Morgan 26*, Tabraiz Shamsi 3-19) by four wickets.