South Africa will host England for the 2nd T20I of the 3 match series on Sunday at Paarl. England went against South Africa in the first T20 game of the series at Cape Town on Friday.
After being put in to bat first, South Africa scored the fighting score of 180 runs for the tourist. For South Africa Faf Du Plessis (58), Van der Dussen (38), and Quinton De Kock (30) played some handy knocks. Although it could’ve been over 190 easily if they had pinch hitter like David Miller in the middle order.
In reply, England got off to the worst start and the situation got completely miserable when they lost three wickets at the score of just 34 runs. However, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes added on 85 runs partnership for the fifth to take the team back into the hunt. Bairstow kept the one end while wickets falling at another end for the England team.
Jonny Bairstow remained unbeaten on 48-ball 86 which included 9 fours and 4 sixes along with the winning runs of Six over mid-wicket area. His inning helped England to take a lead of 1-0 in the series.
Having said this, let us take a look at two things that South Africa can improve for the 2nd T20I against England at Paarl.
1) South Africa’s frontline bowlers need to show some fighting intent
Chasing 180 was not going to be easy for the England team in the first T20I when they have to face someone like Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Nigidi under the lights. But South Africa’s frontline bowlers were less effective and were not economical in their spells to provide any help to South Africa.
Rabada went wicketless with 32 runs in his 4 overs spell while Lungi Nigidi took two wickets with 31 runs in 3.2 overs and the England team chased down the total with 4 balls to spare. So for South Africa to make a comeback in the series, Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi need to perform well in the second T20I.
2) South Africa needs Pinch-Hitters in middle orders
The winning ratio is high with the team having more pinch-hitters who can shift the gears according to the situation to help the team in every outcome. However, South Africa’s middle-order looked inexperienced. Apart from Faf Du Plessis, there is no other batsman on whom South Africa rely on against the England team in the series.
In the first game, South Africa was playing without a match-winner like David Miller who can turn the game at any point of the match. Let us see if he can come back into the next game to provide more depth into the batting as South Africa hardly have anyone to rely on in the middle order apart from David Miller.
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Last Updated on November 28, 2020
