England 230 for 8 (Root 83, Roy 43, Abbott 3-41) beat South Africa 229 for 4 (Amla 58, Duminy 54*, de Kock 52) by two wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Joe Root led England’s chase with 83 from 44 balls © Getty Images
England completed the second-highest successful chase in T20 internationals and the highest in World T20 history to keep their campaign alive. They held their nerve chasing 230, thanks to a blistering start from Jason Roy and a clinical innings from Joe Root that ripped South Africa’s attack apart and undid their batsmen’s efforts.
Quinton de Kock, Hashim Amla and JP Duminy all scored half-centuries in a line-up that included AB de Villiers at No. 3 and South Africa would have thought they had enough. Instead, they were left to rue the three overs between 10 and 13, bowled by Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali, when South Africa could not find the boundary and scored just 14 runs. Before that, they were 125 for 2; after it, 139 for 3 and it was the difference between a score under 250 and one greater than. In the end, South Africa needed the latter.
On a night when no-one wanted to be a bowler, the England seamers’ scattergun approach was nullified by South Africa overcompensating by going too straight. An England line-up whose approach is built on aggression punished them for that.
More to follow…
Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s South Africa correspondent
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo