Having drawn the ODI series by 1-1, England and South Africa began the T20I series in a thrilling fashion. Winning the toss, England chose to bat first and got off to a flyer with captain Jos Butler making a quickfire 22 off just seven deliveries. Jason Roy, on the other hand, continues to struggle with his form making just eight off of 15.
The next two batters Dawid Malan (43) and Jonny Bairstow (90) took charge of England’s batting. Bairstow in his sensational innings hit three boundaries and eight massive sixes and just missed what could have been a great century.
It was, however, Moeen Ali who stole the limelight by making England’s fastest T20I half-century ever. The southpaw hit 52 runs in 18 balls with the help of two fours and six massive sixes. England team on the back of great batting reached a humongous score of 234. In the process, the home team hit 20 sixes in what is a national record for the most number of sixes in England. Lungi Ngidi took a fifer and was the pick of the bowlers from the visiting team.
Coming on to chase a huge total, South Africa got off to a poor start with star player Quinton de Kock getting off at just two runs. The Proteas continued to struggle with the second wicket (Rilee Rossouw) getting out at a team score of seven. Reeza Hendricks (57) and Heinrich Klassen (20) steadied the innings for a while but could not stop the fall of wickets for long.
New captain David Miller (eight) failed to lead the team from the front and was dismissed by the returnee, Adil Rashid. The 21-year-old Tristan Stubbs, however, grabbed the opportunity and hit an exquisite 72 off of just 28 balls to threaten the English side. His innings included two fours and eight stylish sixes on all parts of the ground.
His wicket ended South Africa’s hopes of a win as the team could only manage 193 in the end and lost the game by 41 runs. Richard Gleeson with a bowling figure of 4-51-3 was England’s top wicket-taker, despite going for a lot of runs.
England and South Africa will clash in the second T20I on 28th July in Cardiff.
Let’s look at some of the Twitter reactions after the game.
Well that was fun!!!
We win by 4??1?? runs, bring on tomorrow ????????#ENGvsSA pic.twitter.com/um5SZirD1E
— England’s Barmy Army (@TheBarmyArmy) July 27, 2022
Tristan Stubbs – 72 (28) vs ENG
Highest SR for SA in a T20I Inning
295.45 – Question de Kock
280.55 – David Miller
257.14 – Tristan Stubbs*
246.42 – AB Devilliers[Min 50 runs]#ENGvSA
— CricBeat (@Cric_beat) July 27, 2022
???? ? ????! ?????? & ???????? ?????? ????????? ????? ??? ????????? ???? ???? ?? ????? ???? ?? ????! #ENG #ENGvsSA pic.twitter.com/LrPQINcggi
— ????? (@mufcamaan) July 27, 2022
In the last South African T20 competition, Tristan Stubbs struck a SIX every 6.96 balls he faced.
The next best was David Miller at 11.18.
He is a truly phenomenal prospect and I'm so glad he's finally smashing sixes on the international stage too.#ENGvsSA pic.twitter.com/y7FLk2UGS3
— Shaun (@Shaun_Analytics) July 27, 2022
From the land of Jhonty Rhodes people are dropping Bairstow 3 times. Shame. #ENGvsSA
— Rinda Ho (@Yunii_que) July 27, 2022
Stubbs looks like he has played 30 T20Is, not 3. His presence at the crease is immense. How he uses his crease to create room for his swing arc is incredible. Looks some player at this level. #ENGvsSA
— Ryan Vrede (@Ryan_Vrede) July 27, 2022
Bairstow buy a lottery ticket tonight#ENGvsSA
— DB (@dhiraj_bhambani) July 27, 2022
72 off 28 Stubbs ?? star in the making #ENGvsSA ??
— 1892 MAGPIES (@1892Magpies) July 27, 2022
Bairstow and Moeen smashed 33 runs against Andile Phelukwayo last night in first T20 international
66WDWD1666#ENGvsSA pic.twitter.com/b65cGSgbhG
— Sofia ??? (@adorable_sofi) July 28, 2022
Most 6s for ENG in a
Test match – 18 vs NZ (2022)
ODI match – 26 vs NED (2022)
T20I match – 20 vs SA (2022)*All 3 off them came in Last 2 months ?#ENGvsSA
— ?????? (@Shebas_10dulkar) July 27, 2022
