England beat South Africa in Group 1 of the World T20 by two wickets to get a crucial win in the Super 10 stage and keep alive their chances of getting through to the semi-final.

South Africa were sent into bat by England and they made an unbelievable score of 229-4 thanks to 50s from Quinton de Kock, Hashim Amla and JP Duminy. For England to win the match they needed to pull off their highest every chase in T20s, and they did it thanks to a brilliant innings of 83 from Joe Root with two balls remaining. 

England won the toss and bowled first

The toss was won by England captain Eoin Morgan, who choose to bowl first in a game the team couldn't afford to lose after falling to defeat against the West Indies in their opener on Wednesday. 

The Proteas began their batting innings with a real intent to make Morgan pay for his decision by making 83 runs in the first six overs. De Kock and Amla were hitting sixes and fours for fun to get South Africa off to the perfect start. De Kock brought up his 50 during the next over off just 21 balls. 

De Kock, Amla and Duminy half-centuries set up big total of 229-4

De Kock didn't last much longer though as Moeen Ali got the breakthrough. Ali was brought back on after going for 13 in his first over and got the left-hander out for 52(24), with him going for one to many big shots. 

The hundred came up for South Africa in the eighth over and then Ab De Villiers started to go big next over hitting two successive sixes off Adil Rashid. The spinner though got his man two balls later for 16(8) going for another big shot.

Amla then brought up his fifty off 25 balls which is fast for him but he was hitting the ball to all parts of the ground. Amla after reaching his 50 didn't last much longer after being trapped LBW by Ali for 58(31).

Amla in action during his half-century against England in Mumbai | Photo: icc.com
Amla in action during his half-century against England in Mumbai | Photo: icc.com

Faf du Plessis and JP Duminy then started to build a good partnership together before David Willey came back into the attack to get the wicket of du Plessis for 17(17) going for a big shot. The wicket of the captain brought David Miller to the crease and he finished the innings with Duminy with a partnership of 60 off 4.3 overs. 

Duminy finished not out on 54 off 28 balls and Miller 28 not out off 12 balls. The final score after the first innings for the Proteas was 229-4, meaning England required 230 to win the match.

Hales and Roy get England off to fast start 

In reply to South Africa's massive score, the England openers Alex Hales and Jason Roy came out swinging hard making 48 from 2.3 overs before Hales was trapped LBW by Kyle Abbott for 17(7). Ben Stokes was promoted to number three for England and he came out swinging too. Roy's fantastic innings finally ended in fifth over making 43(15) before Abbott got him out caught by De Kock.

England bettered South Africa's power play score by making 87 runs from their six overs but they lost three wickets. Stokes tried to keep going but was out just before the end of the powerplay for 15(9) off the bowling of Kagiso Rabada

Morgan came in and never really got going as he and Root only managed to put on 24 off four overs which was poor in the context of the match. Morgan was finally out for 12(15) when he was bowled by Duminy. 

Roots 83 guides England to victory

Root brought up his fifty off twenty-nine balls with a reverse lap for six in the 15th over to show that he is a man in all formats for England. The partnership between Root and Jos Buttler for the fifth wicket was 75 before Buttler was stumped in the 16th over off the bowling of Imran Tahir for 21(14) to leave England on 186-5. 

Root's innings was finally ended on 83(44) when he went to hit a big shot off Rabada but was caught on the boundary. England lost two further wickets before the end but they got over the line with two balls remaining to win an unbelievable match by two wickets.

VAVEL Logo
About the author