‘Just what was needed’- Twitter overjoyed as England comprehensively beat South Africa to level the series

England defeated South Africa by 118 runs in the second ODI match of their ongoing series. England levelled the South African team in the one-day international series thanks to an exciting bowling effort. The rain-shortened game saw a batting collapse from the Proteas side.

The home team batted first at Old Trafford, but did not have the best start. The star-studded English Batting lineup could not get the start they would have hoped for. They lost early wickets, which put them under a lot of pressure. Their top four batters were dismissed for a team score of just 62 runs within the first nine overs.

Post that it was not easy for the team either, but Liam Livingstone and Sam Curran got them back in the game. The two played the roles of finishers and scored 38 runs and 35 runs, respectively. They were eventually all-out for a score of 201 runs in 28.1 overs. For South Africa, Dwaine Pretorious took four wickets, while Anrich Nortje and Tabraiz Shamsi took two each.

The visitors got off to a poor start in the chase as they lost two wickets in the third over itself. With these two wickets, Reece Topley effectively set the tone for England’s defence. South Africa lost two more wickets in the following over without adding to the total.

Heinrich Klaasen, however, tried to get some runs but did not get any other support from his teammates. He scored 33 runs in the 40 balls that he faced, with two boundaries to his name. The Keshav Maharaj-led team continued to lose wickets as they were all-out for a total score of just 83 runs.

For England, Adil Rashid was the pick of the bowlers for his figures of 29/3 in his spell of six overs. Meanwhile, Moeen Ali and Topley took two wickets each, while David Willey and Curran took one each. With the series being levelled, the action will move to Headingley in Leeds for a series decider.

Here is how Twitter reacted to England’s win