Clever seam of Pretorius and guile of Maharaj and Shamsi dominates England
The clever seam bowling of Dwaine Pretorius and the guile of spinners Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi dominated England in the shortened second ODI at Old Trafford on Friday, the hosts being bowled out for 201 in the last of their 29 overs.
Heavy morning showers meant the start of the match was delayed from 1pm local time to 5.45pm, and South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first.
Openers Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow made a bright start in the first couple of overs, with Roy greeting fast bowler Anrich Nortje with a couple of boundaries when he pitched too short. But Nortje rebounded by making the first breakthrough, Roy (14 off 11) skewing a catch to a shortish, straightish midwicket.
And then Pretorius ripped through the top-order with three for 26 in five overs. The medium-pacer removed Phil Salt (17), brilliantly caught by David Miller, and Joe Root (1), who both targeted the leg-side to the inswinger but were deceived by the length and pace of the ball.
Pretorius then bowled a superb inducker to castle the dangerous Bairstow (28 off 27), and England were 62 for four in the ninth over.
Maharaj (6-0-29-1) and Shamsi (6-0-39-2) then bowled superbly to further reduce England to 101 for six in the 18th over. Shamsi’s set-up of captain Jos Buttler (19) was a beauty to behold as the left-arm wrist-spinner dismissed him for the second match in succession.
Sam Curran (35 off 18) ensured the momentum began to lean England’s way, however, attacking both spinners and hitting three brilliant straight sixes. That sparked Liam Livingstone, who delighted in the extra pace provided by Nortje to hit him for 6-6-6-4 in the 21st over.
Nortje bounced back, however, with a clever slower-ball bouncer which Livingstone (38 off 26) flapped to a widish mid-on.
David Willey scored a useful 21 before Pretorius returned to have him caught at deep midwicket and finish with brilliant career-best figures of four for 36 in his six overs.
Lungi Ngidi was outstanding with his changes of pace and most unfortunate not to take any wickets.