Tourists record narrow win - and absolute thumping - in T20Is...
Monday 1 February 2016 10:42, UK
With the Basil D'Oliveira trophy back in their grasp, England's next goal in South Africa is to secure victory in the ODIs and T20Is.
That may look a tough ask with AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla ranked first and third respectively in the ODI batting standings, but England did best the Proteas in the 50-over format six years ago.
Read on to see how Paul Collingwood and James Anderson helped the tourists notch a 2-1 series win and why the T20 portion of their trip was not short on fireworks…
The T20Is started well…
England's 2009-10 schedule in South Africa was a reverse of this winter, with the limited-overs leg taking place prior to the Test matches, starting with two T20 tussles. The tourists bounced back from being skittled for 89 by South Africa A in a warm-up - Alastair Cook (22), Collingwood (18) and Eoin Morgan (11) the only men to make double figures as the team scored just five fours and one six - to win a rain-affected opener against the full Proteas side by a solitary run.
England amassed 202-6 in Johannesburg thanks largely to a 98-run, fourth-wicket stand between Morgan (85no from 45) and Collingwood (57 from 32) and Morgan biffing five of his last eight balls for either four or six, but had to rely on a bit of Anderson magic to secure the win. South Africa needed to be on 129 after 13 overs to stay ahead of Duckworth-Lewis but could only reach 127, with Anderson's final over before the match-ending thunderstorm going for just six runs.
But ended with a thrashing!
Anderson bowled a relatively tidy spell of 1-28 two days later at Centurion but his mates got pummelled by Loots Bosman (94 from 45) and Graeme Smith (88 from 44) as South Africa blasted the third highest T20I total in history. The Proteas' 241-6 has only been bettered by Sri Lanka's 260-6 against Kenya in Johannesburg during the 2007 World T20 and Australia's 248-6 against England at Southampton in 2013, when Aaron Finch hit a T20I record 156 - and 14 sixes!
Sajid Mahmood - remember him? - was marmalised for 61 from his four overs by South Africa, making his wicket of Jacques Kallis scant consolation, with Smith and Bosman adding 170 for the first wicket, a record that stood until New Zealanders Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson cracked 171 against Pakistan earlier this year in Hamilton. A shell-shocked England were dismissed for 157 in reply, Jonathan Trott striking three sixes while top scoring with a 40-ball 51.
Colly stops England's wobble
Collingwood's greatest asset is arguably his electric fielding but he played many a star turn for England with bat and ball, as evidenced in this series. After dismissing Hashim Amla for 57 in the second ODI, as well as snaring Albie Morkel and catching AB de Villiers brilliantly at backward point, Collingwood scored 105 not out as England chased down 250-9 with four overs to spare at Centurion to banish memories of their 84-run T20I mauling at the same stadium a week earlier, notching the first win of the series after rain washed out the first ODI in Johannesburg.
The Durham star, with help from Trott (87), rescued England from 45-2 in the match, but his 86 in the third ODI couldn't salvage anything, with the tourists, then under the captaincy of Andrew Strauss, buckling to 242 all out as they tried to surpass South Africa's 354-6 in Cape Town. Amla (86) and Smith (54) gave the Proteas a perfect platform with an opening stand of 107, before De Villiers clubbed 121 from 85 balls, his only ODI ton against England so far in 19 innings.
Jimmy and rain seal the series
A 112-run triumph at Newlands failed to launch a home comeback, though, with England's seven-wicket success in game four in Port Elizabeth and a washout in match five in Durban - the second abandonment of the series - saw Strauss' men claim a first limited-overs trophy in South Africa, just two months after being battered 6-1 by Australia. Substantial rain may have aided them at Kingsmead but it was the Burnley Express who England had to thank at St George's, with Anderson seizing a career-best 5-23.
The swing-bowling supremo picked up the wickets of Amla, JP Duminy, Mark Boucher, Ryan McLaren and Johan Botha as South Africa were blitzed for 119, their lowest ODI score on home soil, before the South African-born Trott (52 from 77) steered England to their nominal target with 112 balls remaining. Collingwood (two) and Kevin Pietersen (three) made a combined score of five but Strauss (32) and Morgan (28) played useful support roles, Morgan's flash through the slip cordon for four the final act.
Watch England's five-match ODI series and two-match T20I series against South Africa live on Sky Sports, starting with the first ODI from 11am, Wednesday, Sky Sports 2.
