Chris Jordan: England's confidence won't be damaged

By Jefferson Lake

Image: Chris Jordan took three wickets in England's Twenty20 loss to South Africa

Chris Jordan insists England's short-term confidence will not have been damaged by another agonising last-ditch defeat against South Africa.

England lost a thrilling Twenty20 contest at Newlands on Friday, as Chris Morris clubbed 14 runs from five balls in Reece Topley's final over, scurrying two from the last delivery of the match to settle it.

The loss was especially agonising for Topley as the unfortunate bowler failed to gather a throw from the deep which might have run out Kyle Abbott.

Watch a pick of the action from the first T20 between South Africa and England

That would have secured a tie and Super Over - Jordan's forte after his brilliant display in Sharjah before Christmas - but instead, it was a groundhog Friday night for England as Morris reprised his heroics from the fourth one-day international in Johannesburg.

In a further repeat, Eoin Morgan's team must collect themselves for another crunch match, this time at the Wanderers, within 48 hours.

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Asked if confidence may be affected by running into the big-hitting Morris to their cost again, Jordan said: "Not at all."

England, both Morgan and Jordan reasoned post-match, had paid for their moderate batting as they struggled against Imran Tahir (4-21) and set only 134-8.

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They were then tigerish in the field and with the ball, Topley's late slip apart, as Jordan took 3-23 and South Africa paced their chase conservatively.

It seemed, until Morris intervened, that England might prevail.

After the near miss, though, Jordan is convinced they will be able to raise themselves one last time on this tour - and is optimistic too about prospects at next month's ICC World Twenty20 in India.

We hear from Eoin Morgan, Faf du Plessis and Imran Tahir after South Africa's win

He said: "I guess if people look at it they would say that batting is our strongest suit - so to keep building on those kind of performances as a bowling unit... means we can only take confidence from it, especially going into the 'World Cup'.

"We brought the game really close, and as a bowling unit we're pretty confident within ourselves.

"We were a bit under par with the bat, but we'll look to put that right on Sunday."

Watch the second Twenty20 international between South Africa and England live on Sky Sports 2 HD from 12pm on Sunday.

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