Tom Curran held his nerve in the last over in Durban as England levelled the series
“Sounds like an incredibly wonderful game,” says Peter Barrett. It was. “Sorry I’m not there instead of being here in a horrible wet England.” Peter, I know how you feel. Now I need to get off the telly, because my wife wants to watch Wolves v Leicester, and this game, fabulous as it was, went on longer than it was supposed to.
Thanks for your excellent company as ever. I dedicate this OBO to Winnie Mae Collins, born this morning (16:01), without whom I wouldn’t have got to write about a thriller. Barney Ronay’s match report will be along soon and never mind reading, it will be well worth framing. Do join me on Sunday, 12.30pm in the UK, 10.30am local time, for the final epsiode of this superb whowunnit.
Cometh the hour, cometh Simon McMahon. “Evening Tim. I know people who think cricket is boring. I genuinely feel sorry for them."
So you have to hand it to Rashid, for the clear thinking and the safe hands, and to Tom Curran, for being bold enough to serve up a slower ball out of the back of the hand under the utmost pressure. This may be the greatest T20i series of all time. We’ve had South Africa winning by one run, and England by two, as the bowling side held their nerve magnificently.
The umpires seem to be checking whether Rashid was inside the circle when the ball was bowled. He may have anticipated the lap and gone too early.
Fortuin laps, Rashid catches it! What a game.
19.5 overs: South Africa 202-6 (van der Dussen 43, Fortuin 0) Out comes Bjorn Fortuin, who has never batted in a T20 international. Baptism of fire.
And it is, just – umpire’s call. So SA will need three off the last ball. Well done Tom Curran.
Curran bounces back! With a killer yorker. SA are reviewing...
19.4 overs: South Africa 202-5 (van der Dussen 43, Pretorius 25) Not out! SA need three off two, just like England the other night. And they blew it...
19.4 overs: South Africa 202-5 (van der Dussen 43, Pretorius 25) A squirt for two, a throw from Strokes, a smart take from Buttler, a dive from Pretorius which will make a great photo tomorrow... Gone upstairs, but it doesn’t look out.
19.3 overs: South Africa 200-5 (van der Dussen 43, Pretorius 23) And now a four through extra cover. SA are cruising!
19.2 overs: South Africa 196-5 (van der Dussen 43, Pretorius 19) It’s a six! This time the slower ball deceives no one. Nine nneeded off four balls.
19.1 overs: South Africa 190-5 (van der Dussen 43, Pretorius 13) A dot! Curran’s slower ball deceives Pretorius.
19th over: South Africa 190-5 (van der Dussen 43, Pretorius 13) Jordan again, getting a hand on a straight thump from Pretorius to save three runs. Then van der D chips, precariously, but gets away with it as the ball drops into no-man’s-land. A scampered two from Pretorius, as SA seem to be seeing Jordan off. They need 22 off nine balls. A miscue brings two more: 20 needed off eight, just feasible. And Pretorius finds the boundary, with an edge! Where’s that slip we asked for? A single off the last ball, so SA need 15 off the last over. It’s beautifully, hideously, poised.
18th over: South Africa 179-5 (van der Dussen 42, Pretorius 3) Mark Wood is back, and van der Dussen gets under a would-be yorker and slugs it for a straight six. But SA still need 37 off 15, then 36 off 15 as Wood goes wide on the crease and also wide at the other end, down the leg side. A straighter ball, and van der D flicks it for six more. Out of the ground! And then he drives, almost classically, for four. He found that phone box.
17th over: South Africa 160-5 (van der Dussen 25, Pretorius 2) Morgan turned to his death star, Jordan, and he delivered – two wickets in the over, and only five runs, so SA need 45 off three overs, which should be beyond them.
Here’s an interesting email, from someone who has aleready appeared on this page (17:52), but as a non-speaking character. “As the permanently outraged other half of Grace Pickering,” says Mark Dean, “my response to Greg MacGregor is that I’d be happy with some newfangled online thing, I just want a proper 2 hour highlights program, not some collection of 1 minute long clips which is all the ECB seem to offer. Though surely the ECB threw away a fortune by failing to cater to everyone in Britain desperately searching for a Christmas present for their aging, cricket obsessed, streaming averse, DVD loving parents?”
Another one! Also a yorker, so poor old Phehlukwayo first ball, and Jordan has two-in-two for the second time this week.
Smuts is bowled round his legs by a middle-stump yorker. He faced 12 balls, and only got hold of one of them.
16th over: South Africa 155-3 (van der Dussen 24, Smuts 12) Morgan turns back to Tom Curran, who starts with a wide outside off, more grist for I Wilson’s mill (12th over). A length ball, more accurate, gets hit for six by Smuts, whose name captures the way he treats the ball – he definitely smutted that one. Curran fights back with a loopy slower ball, for none, a yorker for one, a slower ball for one, an even slower ball for none, and another yorker for one. So an over that began horribly turns out almost respectable. “Wonderful skills,” says Shaun Pollock, who knows all about seam bowling.
15th over: South Africa 145-3 (van der Dussen 23, Smuts 4) At last van der Dussen finds his range, driving Stokes back for a straight four that is like the MCC coaching book on speed. Next ball, he top-edges a pull, which lands short of Rashid at fine leg as fortune favours the bold. Further emboldened, van der Dussen whips a six. That’s more like it. SA need 60 off 30 balls: game back on.
14th over: South Africa 130-3 (van der Dussen 10, Smuts 3) South Africa are still trying to get them in singles, which may not be the best plan. Jordan’s over of all sorts goes for 1, 1, 1, 1, dot, 1, which is worth a maiden in most matches. SA need 74 off 36, and above all they need boundaries. Where have all the sixes gone?
13th over: South Africa 126-3 (van der Dussen 8, Smuts 1) Stokes’s first over goes dot, dot, wicket, 1, 1, 1, and suddenly the rate required is above 11. SA need 79 off 42 balls, and van der Dussen is going to have to find a phone box to get changed in.
Stokes comes on, builds pressure with a string of, er, two dots, and cashes in as Miller clonks a low full toss to long-on. The man most likely to see SA home has gone, and this game is now beautifully balanced.
12th over: South Africa 123-2 (Miller 21, van der Dussen 6) Only six off the over from Wood, who has been immense. As well as taking wickets, England need to give the strike to van der Dussen, who has six off eight balls, rather than six off one like most people today.
Here’s an interesting line on England’s selection. “I think England should consider Anderson and Broad for the T20 World Cup,” says I Wilson, “because these pace bowlers are throwing the game away, no control whatsoever.” Not Wood, but perhaps that was written before he came on.
11th over: South Africa 117-2 (Miller 19, van der Dussen 2) On this slightly sticky wicket, spin ought to be just the thing, but Moeen went for 36 off three overs and his mate Rash isn’t faring much better – Miller, taking up where de Kock left off, wellies it for two more sixes. Rashid does well to concede only two off the last three balls, but England have to take wickets, or the series has gone. Get a slip in!
10th over: South Africa 103-2 (Miller 6, van der Dussen 1) So Wood takes another wicket, concedes only two off the over, and has the scalps of both openers, which are worth a five-for on a normal day.
Wood has another one! He bowls a cross-seam bouncer, at a useful 148 kph, and Bavuma can only feather his hook to the keeper. That probably makes England favourites again, even though SA are ahead of the rate.
9th over: South Africa 101-1 (Bavuma 27, Miller 5) Better from Rashid, who celebrates the demise of de Kock by going for only nine off the over. David Miller has been shrewdly promoted, presumably by Mark Boucher, and he gets going with a whip for four.
8th over: South Africa 92-1 (Bavuma 27, Miller 0) Mark Wood comes on and guess what? His first ball is clubbed for six by de Kock. It was nearly a catch for Ben Stokes, who flew along the boundary, missed the ball and did very well to miss a small ball boy. The ball boys, wisely, are wearing helmets. This game is ridiculous, but also sublime. de Kock thumps a four, tries for another six – and is caught by Stokes this time, right on the rope. So de Kock’s 65 came off 22 balls, which means his strike rate was a bit sluggish compared to Moeen’s – 295 as against 354. But de Kock stayed in for twice as long. Verdict: they were both amazing.
Given out, very narrowly. That’s the end of the innings of the day, which is saying something.
de Kock is caught by Stokes off a Wood full toss, which is now being tested for possibly being too high...
7th over: South Africa 80-0 (Bavuma 26, de Kock 54) When even Rashid goes for 11 off an over, you know England are in trouble.
But at least it was a dot.
Up goes the finger, but Bavuma, who was sweeping, is convinced this has hit his glove, so he reviews.
Adil Rashid comes on, de Kock pulls him into the stand, and that’s the fastest fifty ever by a South African batsman. He has 53 off 17 balls, and if England don’t get rid of him soon, this isn’t even going to be close.
6th over: South Africa 69-0 (Bavuma 24, de Kock 45) Tom Curran is back for an early second spell, but the carnage continues He dishes up a full toss and de Kock flips it into the stand at square leg. A length ball, same result, and de Kock has 45 off 15 balls, six of which have gone for six. Anything Mo can do, he can do for slightly longer.
Here’s an alternative view of the great DVD rumpus. “Isn’t the location of the Wold Cup DVD,” says Greg MacGregor, “somewhere between the mid 90s and about 2010?”
5th over: South Africa 53-0 (Bavuma 22, de Kock 31) Now de Kock plays a trick on Moeen, shaping to go down the track, then rocking back and hitting a long hop out of the ground. And de Kock follows up with a flat six, off the very bottom of the bat, that just clears the rope at square leg, and another six, down the ground. Mo is getting a taste of his own medicine, de Kock has 31 off 11, and South Africa are up with the rate required.
More on the strange case of the missing DVD (17:52), from Max Harrison. “As someone who wasn’t in England when the World Cup was on and who missed the C4 coverage of it because by the time I got back to England C4 had removed it, I entirely concur. I even emailed C4 about the matter three months ago regarding the strangely absent DVD but there’s been no reply. I thought there might have been a Christmas release of it. Instead, nothing.
“What do I have instead? Ah yes, about 8 minutes of iffy highlights on YouTube.”
4th over: South Africa 33-0 (Bavuma 21, de Kock 12) Chris Jordan comes on and drops a catch, for once in his life. Bavuma blasts it back at Jordan’s left hand and he can’t cling on. Ten off the over, with de Kock again finding the rope at backward square.
“The reason for no CWC 2019 DVD,” says Bunny Corcoran, “is that it was too dull and there were insufficient highlights.” Of course.
3rd over: South Africa 23-0 (Bavuma 18, de Kock 5) Bavuma, facing Moeen, chips again, but this time Stokes chases the ball down like a demon, and de Kock joins in the fun with the last ball, playing a slog-lap for four. SA are ahead at this stage, as England had only 18-1. The person on the PA celebrates by playing Bohemian Rhapsody, for some reason.
2nd over: South Africa 12-0 (Bavuma 12, de Kock 0) Morgan, like de Kock, adheres to the international convention whereby you don’t open with two spinners, so it’s Tom Curran. He lets Bavuma chip a slower ball for four, but otherwise does OK. If South Africa are going to compete here, the openers may have to get most of the runs.
1st over: South Africa 5-0 (Bavuma 5, de Kock 0) Moeen begins with two dots, which is two more than there were in his innings. Then Bavuma improvises, lofting a cut over backward point, before Mo tucks up de Kock with two more dots.
Here is Moeen’s innings in full, in case you don’t believe it was that good. It went 1, 6, 1, 1, 3 wides, 6, 4, 6, 6, 4, 4, out – so the only ball he didn’t score off, until the last, was the bouncer that went over his head for three wides. That first single, by the way, nearly led to a run-out. And now Mo’s about to open the bowling.
That was fabulous entertainment, and there will be more to come if South Africa can take this game to the wire. Victory, if they secure it, will be a famous one.
One person isn’t happy, though. “I’m writing for nothing really related to today’s match,” says Grace Pickering, “but because my other half is in a seemingly permanent state of outrage that there is no official DVD of the 2019 World Cup. Where is the DVD? Where is the outrage about the lack of DVD? WHY, TIM, WHY?” It sounds like a fair cop. Does anyone know the answer?
20th over: England 204-7 (Stokes 47, T Curran 0) Stokes, who seems to have been batting for several days, launches Ngidi for an enormous six and is well caught by the gentleman in the second tier, one-handed. And then he adds two twos, the second of them leg byes, to round off a towering total. So England, who flirted with disaster twice in that innings, go to the break as favourites, thanks to sizzling cameos from Bairstow and Moeen and a steady performance from the leading man, Stokes, who made his highest score in T20 internationals. See you in a few minutes.
There have been a few near-misses in the deep, and now Bavuma holds a screamer at long-off, diving, rolling, clinging on and raising the finger himself, as well he may.
19th over: England 189-6 (Stokes 34, Jordan 7) Chris Jordan comes to the party, smelling the slower ball from Phehlukwayo and smashing it for yet another six.
18th over: England 176-6 (Stokes 28, Jordan 0) Before he floated away again, Moeen had treated us to six, four, four – with a lofted slice, a lofted glance and a cover drive. The slice was the best thing since the invention of the ramp. The partnership with Stokes was 51 off 17 balls, at a strike rate of 300.
A phenomenal cameo comes to an end as Moeen chips to the midwicket boundary. He made 39 off 11 balls in what may well have been the most elegant firework display ever seen on a cricket field.
17th over: England 157-5 (Stokes 23, Moeen 25) Desperate times, desperate measures. Stokes tries a ramp, off Hendricks, and only succeeds in getting rapped on the funny bone. A bouncer goes for three wides after being loftily ignored by Moeen, who then chips for six, slaps for four to long-off, and swings another six. That’s Moeen at his sumptuous best: he has 25 from seven balls.
16th over: England 136-5 (Stokes 22, Moeen 8) At least Denly’s demise gives Moeen a chance to shine. He duly lofts his second ball for the most languid six since David Gower retired.
Well this is a weird one. A slow long-hop outside leg, which is crying out to be walloped or called wide, hits Denly’s glove and gets deflected onto the stumps. That has to be nemesis for the hubris of playing Denly ahead of Malan.
15th over: England 125-4 (Stokes 19, Denly 0) Things had just been looking up for England as Stokes, seeing the problem, did what he normally does after a few hours – he went big, launching Pretorius into the second tier of the stand at midwicket. Stokes is such a powerful hitter that it’s odd he doesn’t try it more often: it’s as if he was Freddie Flintoff, operated by Jonathan Trott.
Morgan holes out for the second time in 48 hours, chipping Pretorius’s slower ball to long-off. He departs berating himself.
14th over: England 115-3 (Morgan 26, Stokes 11) Stokes finally hits a four – but only because the man running in from long-on misjudges a tough low chance and misses it altogether. This partnership has yielded just 25 off 27 balls, thin pickings by T20 standards.
“Constantly perplexed by England’s selectors always appearing to want to be too clever,” splutters Adam Giles. “Sure, Buttler is a destructive batsman, but in Roy and Bairstow you have the most destructive opening partnership in limited overs cricket, and I’m sure Jos would be able to play his explosive style much more liberally coming in at 4 or 5 with 100+ already on the board. We should be playing the players we have in their best positions, rather than all these ridiculous experiments that never pay off. Currently just wasting the ace in the hole, wouldn’t be surprised to see Rashid given the gloves and YJB bowling bouncers later on.”
13th over: England 108-3 (Morgan 24, Stokes 6) Pretorius continues, and his military medium is proving impossible to hit – this over goes 1..111. The man is bowling in binary.
12th over: England 104-3 (Morgan 22, Stokes 4) Rob Key, on commentary, has spotted that the ball is sticking in the pitch, which may explain why 160 tends to be a winning score here. Stokes still can’t get going, so Morgan has to have a dart. He manages it, slog-sweeping Shamsi for six, then cutting for two.
11th over: England 93-3 (Morgan 13, Stokes 2) On comes Dwaine Pretorius, with both third man and fine leg up, so he’ll have to bowl very straight. And he does, conceding only three. Stokes, who prefers to play himself in, takes two comfy singles down the ground, but also misses with a reverse waft. South Africa have grabbed the steering wheel here.
10th over: England 90-3 (Morgan 12, Stokes 0) Shamsi follows up the wicket with three dots to Morgan, so that over was a triumph for South Africa. Ben Stokes is back up to no.5, which may be a grudging admission from England that they messed up by putting Joe Denly there on Wednesday.
“Adding to the oeuvre of bad cricket thrillers,” says Brian Withington, “how about: The Buttler Desperandum, The Warne Supremacy, and for Nasser, Funeral in Brisbane?”
Another big one! Roy fancies another six but can only hit it straight to David Miller at long-on. England may be throwing that good start away.
9th over: England 88-2 (Roy 39, Morgan 11) Phehlukwayo continues and after all that drama in his first over, this one is a series of ordinary events until Morgan biffs a four over mid-off.
8th over: England 78-2 (Roy 35, Morgan 6) So Eoin Morgan is at the crease again. It only seems about five minutes ago that he was holing out, with uncharacteristic dimness, to start the collapse that did for England in East London. He flirts with danger here too, lofting Shamsi close to the cover sweeper, but then shovels him away for four to long leg to keep up the momentum.
7th over: England 69-2 (Roy 32, Morgan 0) Bairstow clonked Phehlukwayo’s second ball for six down the ground, and mullered his third for six over midwicket. But then an old failing resurfaced. Still, his 35 came off only 17 balls, and got England going by adding 52 with his mate Roy in 4.1 overs flat.
That’s a big one. Bairstow, who has just greeted Phehlukwayo with consecutive sixes, misses a straight one, as so often, and loses his off bail.
5th over: England 55-1 (Roy 31, Bairstow 22) Bairstow’s on fire. Facing Hendricks, he lofts the first ball over mid-off and caresses the second past backward point. He races to 22 off 12 and briefly overtakes Roy, who retorts with a tennis shot for none (cross-court smash, since you ask), a flail for six and a Harrow poke for four. And suddenly a bad start has become quite a good one.
5th over: England 38-1 (Roy 21, Bairstow 15) Ngidi again, and Roy plays the shot Buttler was attempting – a flail through the vacant slips for four. Always good to see a captain pay for not having a slip. Bairstow, still bothered by the run rate, chips, a little unconvincingly, but it still goes for six. Throw in a pull for two and a cut for a single, and that’s 14 off the over. Jonny B making a difference.
More baby talk. “First and foremost, I would like to extend my congratulations to Mr Collins and his family on being blessed with a new life,” says Abhijato Sensarma. coming off his full run. “For it to happen on this date – a celebration of love – gives great joy to the soul. Wishing the best of luck to Winnie Mae Collins, whose name also seems to be fitting for a children’s author!
4th over: England 24-1 (Roy 16, Bairstow 6) Fortuin is back, giving us another chance to admire his beard, which is impressively rectangular. He is testing again, but he drops Bairstow when a hard low chance comes his way. realising that England need some boundaries, Bairstow lofts the last ball for four.
There’s a hold-up, for reasons I can’t quite fathom. So back to the OBO baby (16:01).
“Congratulations to the newly expanded Collins family,” says Tom Atkins. “In lieu of knitting the new arrival a hat or something, could your readers perhaps welcome her by offering nuggets of advice gained from following OBO cricket over the years? Mine would be this: if you win the toss on a hot sunny morning in Brisbane, for the love of all that is holy do NOT put the opposition in.” Ha. First, Winnie will have to work out which side she’s on – Adam is an Aussie.
3rd over: England 18-1 (Roy 15, Bairstow 1) The Fortuin experiment, which sounds like a bad thriller, came to an end as de Kock summoned Ngidi, who coolly carried on where he left off the other night by taking a big wicket and conceding only a couple of singles. Great stuff.
Gone! The man of the moment, Lungi Ngidi, has done it again, bowling a few dots to build the pressure and then persuading Buttler to nick a cross-seam ball that holds its line outside off. Buttler’s miserable tour continues.
2nd over: England 16-0 (Roy 14, Buttler 2) The new ball is shared by Beuran Hendricks, as de Kock follows the convention that says you can only open with one spinner. Hendricks, aiming at leg stump, nearly has Roy bowled round his legs, but Roy survives and glances for four past short fine leg. Jos Buttler has had only two balls so far, both worked for singles.
1st over: England 9-0 (Roy 8, Buttler 1) Bjorn Fortuin is straight into the action, opening the bowling with his slow left-arm, in a blatant bid to rattle Jason Roy. Fortein starts tidily as Roy takes a couple of sighters – and then launches a six over long-on.
Today’s OBO was going to be brought to you by Adam Collins, but he sent a text this morning containing quite a good excuse: he’s just become a dad. Adam’s other half, Rachel, gave birth this morning “after a marathon labour”, to Winifred (Winnie), who is “7lbs 3 oz in old money and 51cm long in the new”.
“She is already everything to me,” Adam wrote, “having arrived a couple of hours ago!” All our congratulations to him and Rachel, and a big welcome to Winnie Mae Collins, who sounds like a great blues singer waiting to happen.
SA change a winning team, as their golden oldie Dale Steyn takes a breather and Bjorn Fortuin steps up. England stick with a losing team, so still no Malan, who must be fuming.
England 1 Roy, 2 Buttler (wkt), 3 Bairstow, 4 Morgan (capt), 5 Denly, 6 Stokes, 7 Moeen, 8 T Curran, 9 Jordan, 10 Rashid, 11 Wood.
Eoin Morgan calls wrong, and Quinton de Kock would rather chase.
Afternoon everyone. Well this is mouthwatering. The first game in the series wasn’t just a classic cliffhanger – it has teed up the remaining two by giving the underdog the lead. South Africa’s inexperienced side should never have been able to restrict England to five runs off the last seven balls when there were five wickets in hand, but they managed it by taking four of those wickets, with Lungi Ngidi’s offcutter proving to be the lethal weapon.
South Africa, though, have been 1-0 up twice against England this season, and they lost one of those series and drew the other. England should still have the wit and firepower to win this one, but they can’t afford to make mistakes now, and they made plenty in East London - starting with the decision to drop Dawid Malan, whose T20i record is unreal, for Joe Denly.
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