Special Root fires England to highest T20 run ‘chase’ – South Africa upset

This news has been read 7291 times!

England’s wicketkeeper Jos Buttler(left), looks on as South Africa’s JP Duminy plays a shot during the World T20 cricket tournament match between England and South Africa at The Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on March 18. (AFP)
England’s wicketkeeper Jos Buttler(left), looks on as South Africa’s JP Duminy plays a shot during the World T20 cricket tournament match between England and South Africa at The Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on March 18. (AFP)

MUMBAI, March 18, (AFP): Joe Root hailed his 83 against South Africa as the best of his Twenty20 career as England sensationally chased down a target of 230 to stun South Africa by two wickets on Friday.

The classy batsman hit six fours and four sixes in his 44-ball knock as England finished on 230-8 with two balls to spare after South Africa made 229-4 in their World Twenty20 clash in Mumbai.

It was England’s highest ever total in 20-over cricket and the highest successful run chase by any team at the World T20.

It was also the second-best ever chase in the history of the shortest format of the game.

“There’s no better feeling than winning a game of cricket when you’re up against it,” said Root. “It’s massive. The fact we can pull performances like that out with the bat gives us lots of confidence in the group stages and hopefully further in this tournament.”

The 25-year-old said his innings at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium was “definitely” his best ever in short-form cricket, adding that to do it in a world championship was “very special”.

England went into the last over needing just one run to clinch victory and Chris Jordan looked like he’d done it when he smashed the ball high towards to the boundary. But it came up just short and was caught by JP Duminy.

David Willey was then run out for nought as a nervy England tried to clinch victory with a quick single.

Then on the third-last ball, Moeen Ali dramatically hit the winning run to ensure England bounced back from their opening six-wicket defeat to the West Indies on Wednesday.

Root said he had earlier told Ali just to “stay calm”. “I said ‘remember the bowler is under more pressure than you at this stage’. Just stay nice and relaxed’, and thankfully he managed to get us across the line,” explained Root.

Root stylishly clinched his half century with a delightful reverse scoop which went for six in the 15th over before being caught out in the 19th over.

Opener Jason Roy had earlier scored 43 while Jos Buttler made 21 and Alex Hales 17 in the Super 10 Group One game. Quinton de Kock, Hashim Amla and JP Duminy made half centuries as South Africa posted 229-4 after England won the toss and elected to field first.

England’s previous best T20 total was 214 against New Zealand in 2013 and the odds looked stacked against them.

“We definitely would have backed ourselves defending 229, but you have to give credit where credit’s due,” Duminy told reporters afterwards.

MUMBAI, India, March 18, (AP): Scoreboard Friday from the World Twenty20 Group 1 game between South Africa and England at Wankhede Stadium:

SOUTH AFRICA
Hashim Amla lbw b Ali …………………. 58
Quinton de Kock c Hales b Ali ……… 52
AB de Villiers c Morgan b Rashid ….. 16
Faf du Plessis c Roy b Willey………… 17
JP Duminy not out ……………………….. 54
David Miller not out ……………………… 28
Extras (2b, 2w) ……………………………… 4
Total: (for 4 wickets) …………………… 229
Overs: 20.
Fall of wickets: 1-96, 2-114, 3-133, 4-169
Did not bat: Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Kyle Abbott, Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir

Bowling: David Willey 4-0-40-1 (1w), Reece Topley 2-0-33-0, Moeen Ali 4-0-34-2, Chris Jordan 3-0-49-0, Ben Stokes 2-0-23-0 (1w), Adil Rashid 4-0-35-1, Joe Root 1-0-13-0

ENGLAND
Jason Roy c de Kock b Abbott ………. 43
Alex Hales lbw b Abbott ……………….. 17
Ben Stokes c Morris b Rabada ……… 15
Joe Root c Miller b Rabada …………… 83
Eoin Morgan b Duminy …………………. 12
Jos Buttler st. de Kock b Tahir ………. 21
Moeen Ali not out ………………………….. 8
Chris Jordan c Duminy b Abbott ……… 5
David Willey run out ………………………. 0
Adil Rashid not out ………………………… 0
Extras (6lb, 20w) …………………………. 26
Total: (for 8 wickets) …………………… 230
Overs: 19.4
Fall of wickets: 1-48, 2-71, 3-87, 4-111, 5-186, 6-219, 7-229, 8-229
Did not bat: Reece Topley
Bowling: Kagiso Rabada 4-0-50-2 (2w), Dale Steyn 2-0-35-0 (1w), Kyle Abbott 3.4-0-41-3 (2w), Imran Tahir 4-0-
28-1 (2w), JP Duminy 3-0-31-1, Chris Morris 3-0-43-0 (3w)

Toss: England.
Result: England won by two wickets.
Umpires: Paul Reiffel, Australia, and Sundaram Ravi, India.
TV Umpire: Rod Tucker, Australia.
Match referee: David Boon, Australia.

World T20 Standings

Group 1
P W T L NR NRR Pts
West Indies 1 1 0 1 0 +0.973 2
Sri Lanka 1 1 0 0 0 +0.580 2
England 2 1 0 1 0 -0.408 2
South Africa 1 0 0 1 0 -0.245 0
Afghanistan 1 0 0 1 0 -0.580 0

Group 2
P W T L NR NRR Pts
New Zealand 2 2 0 0 0 +1.375 4
Pakistan 1 1 0 0 0 +2.750 2
Australia 1 0 0 1 0 -0.400 0
India 1 0 0 1 0 -2.350 0
Bangladesh 1 0 0 1 0 -2.750 0

Note: Standings read as played, won, tied, lost, no result, net run rate and points

 

This news has been read 7291 times!

Related Articles

Back to top button

Advt Blocker Detected

Kindly disable the Ad blocker

Verified by MonsterInsights