Twitter Reactions: England gun down South Africa in run-churning spree to claim series

The Brits chased down 223 with five balls to spare.

By Sabyasachi Chowdhury

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(Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

The first two matches of the T20I series went right down to the wire. The third and deciding game between England and South Africa was no less entertaining either. In fact, it was the most high-scoring off all the three games with as many as 28 sixes being clobbered. In the end, the visitors came out trumps by five overs. Eoin Morgan and Co also took the series 2-1 after going 1-0 down.

Klaasen comes to the party

The Proteas got off to a flying start as their openers Temba Bavuma (49) and Quinton de Kock (35) notched 64 runs in the powerplay. After an opening wicket stand of 84 off 46, Ben Stokes got rid of De Kock to separate the duo. The pacer then got rid of Rassie van de Dussen cheaply. Prior to that, Adil Rashid ripped Bavuma’s poles apart. Then it was Heinrich Klaasen’s turn to weave magic.

In a mere 31 balls, he put on 64 runs with David Miller, who got 35 off 20. Klaasen, who replaced JJ Smuts in the eleven, notched his half-century off 25 balls. The right-hander amassed 66 off 33 with four fours and as many sixes. His onslaught propelled the hosts to a mammoth 222/6. For the visitors, Curran and Stokes were the standout. Both picked two wickets at an economy rate in the 8s.

England romp home in a canter

The Brits had a slightly bad powerplay that their opponents. Apart from scoring 62 runs, the visitors also lost Jason Roy’s wicket to Lungi Ngidi. After Roy perished, Jos Buttler (57) and Jonny Bairstow (64) threw the kitchen sink at everything with a 91-run stand off 49 balls. The pair didn’t let the required rate to shoot up. Dwaine Pretorius gave the Proteas a breather, getting rid of Buttler.

Andile Phehlukwayo nipped out Bairstow to put pressure on England. Tabraiz Shamsi’s third over got the rate up to nearly 13. Moreover, the Brits lost Dawid Malan. With 53 runs needed off four overs, Eoin Morgan (57) and Ben Stokes (22) took Ngidi for 20 runs. But Lungi avenged it, getting Stokes.

The onus was then on Moeen Ali, who notched an 11-ball 39 in Durban. But Pretorius dropped him inside the circle. Morgan’s seventh six not only gave him his 13th T20I fifty off 21 balls, but also took England within touching distance of a win. Moeen smashed the winning boundary of Phehlukwayo.

Here’s how Twitterati reacted to England’s audacious run-chase: – 

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