Jonny Bairstow brought England home with an unbeaten 86 from 48 deliveries against South Africa to win the first Twenty20 by five wickets on Friday.
Bairstow won it with back-to-back boundaries, a four and then a big six over wide long-on, to take England to 183-5 and past South Africa’s 179-6 with four balls to spare.
England were behind the game through most of the chase, despite Bairstow’s boundary hitting, until the 17th over, when Bairstow and captain Eoin Morgan plundered 28 off left-arm seamer Beuran Hendricks.
Photo: AFP
Hendricks bowled three wides in that over to contribute to South Africa’s demise, including one so far down the leg-side that it flew away for five wides.
The over changed the complexion completely at a fan-free Newlands, with England needing 51 runs from 24 balls before the over and just 23 from 18 after it.
Morgan fell for 12 in the next over to a catch at midwicket off Lungi Ngidi, but England kept their head, and Bairstow kept smashing boundaries.
Photo: Reuters
Bairstow hit nine fours and four sixes, and was England’s match-winner after being shifted from opener to No. 4 to give Jos Buttler a chance at the top of the order.
Sam Curran (7 not out) took 3-28 for England and helped out with the bat with a six of his own right at the end.
South Africa posted a competitive total with 30 at the top of the order from captain Quinton de Kock, 58 from former captain Faf du Plessis and 37 from Rassie van der Dussen.
Left-arm spinner George Linde kept South Africa on top with two early wickets on his T20 debut, including Jason Roy caught behind for no score off the second ball of England’s chase.
Bairstow and Ben Stokes rekindled their love of Newlands, where they combined for a world-record sixth-wicket partnership of 399 in a Test in 2016.
This stand was worth only 85, but it revived England from 34-3 to 119-4. Still, South Africa thought it had seen off the threat when Stokes was out for 37 after hitting one low, flat and hard to long-on, where Linde held on to a stinging catch.
Bairstow survived one chance, when Du Plessis leaped and dropped a one-handed chance on the boundary. Apart from that, Bairstow was utterly fluent, crunching boundaries over the leg-side or easing them away off the face of the bat on the off-side.
In New Zealand, a seventh Pakistan cricketer yesterday tested positive for COVID-19 as the team remained confined to their hotel in Christchurch, unable to train and with a question mark over their tour.
The Pakistan squad are already on a “final warning” for breaching New Zealand’s quarantine restrictions, with the growing number of virus cases adding pressure to preparations for their opening match on Dec. 18.
Despite all members of the squad returning negative tests before flying to New Zealand, six tested positive on their first day in the country.
“One additional member of the Pakistan cricket squad has today tested positive,” the New Zealand Ministry of Health said in a statement. “The remainder of the results from the squad’s day-three swab testing, apart from the six who have already returned a positive result, are negative.”
All overseas arrivals to New Zealand must spend two weeks in quarantine.
Additional reporting by AFP
Kylian Mbappe struck from the penalty spot as Real Madrid beat a dogged CA Osasuna 1-0 on Tuesday to make a winning start in Spanish La Liga under new coach Xabi Alonso. The France striker, last season’s European Golden Shoe winner, scored early in the second half, after he was fouled in the area by Osasuna defender Juan Cruz. It was enough to seal the points in Alonso’s first game in charge at the Santiago Bernabeu, with Madrid now unbeaten in their opening fixture of a league campaign since 2008. “You can see that Kylian wants to do even more
TO THE TOP: After securing the international title on Saturday, Team Taiwan were to face Las Vegas to potentially win their 18th Little League World Series championship A team from Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School won the Little League Baseball World Series’ international title on Saturday by defeating Aruba 1-0 in the annual baseball tournament held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Taiwan team, competing under the name Chinese Taipei, were after press time last night to face a team from Las Vegas, Nevada, which beat a team from Fairfield, Connecticut, in the US championship 8-2. Taiwan are seeking to win their first Little League Baseball World Series title since 1996. “Really haven’t taken a moment to data dump right now on Taiwan,” Nevada manager T.J. Fescher said. “They’re a
‘CATASTROPHE’: Despite losing several key forwards in the summer transfer window, Bayern were up 3-0 in the first half before Harry Kane scored a hat-trick in the second Harry Kane hit a hat-trick, Michael Olise a double and newcomer Luis Diaz also scored as Bayern Munich made a “statement” against RB Leipzig 6-0 at home in the Bundesliga season opener on Friday. Bayern’s big-money arrivals, all brought in from the Premier League across the past three seasons, were dominant as the Bavarians begun their title defense in style. Olise scored twice in the first half, either side of a Diaz strike. Not to be outdone, Kane scored three goals in the second half — with two assists coming from Diaz, to bring Bayern’s total to 6-0. Kane told the Bundesliga
Kevin de Bruyne is to lead SSC Napoli’s Serie A title defense today when he makes his full debut at promoted US Sassuolo, but the champions head into the new season rocked by a long-term injury to star striker Romelu Lukaku. De Bruyne was, alongside aging icon Luka Modric, the big new name to arrive in Italy this summer and fans were hoping his linkup with Belgium teammate Lukaku would push Napoli to success both at home and in their return to the UEFA Champions League. The 34-year-old has suffered from hamstring injuries which caused him to miss significant chunks of the
RSS