and that's it! Finishes things in fine style as he drills a full ball through the off side, wide of the sweeper
South Africa vs England, 2nd T20I at Johannesburg, Feb 21 2016 - Ball by Ball Commentary
South Africa won by 9 wickets (with 32 balls remaining)
South Africa win by nine wickets with 5.2 overs to spare and that's a thumping victory. What a turnaround in this match from when England were 157 for 3. They then lost 7 for 14 before being flayed by AB de Villiers. Hashim Amla was all class, too, and it's a proper shellacking England have suffered. Been quite a comeback from South Africa since being 2-0 down in the ODIs. Terrific confidence-boost for them ahead of the World T20 - they have three T20s against Australia still to come this season before heading to India. England, meanwhile, will go home with their tail between their legs. Yes, it's a team with promise but some the talent is raw and you have to question a few of the selections. But, I guess, if you are going to hammered like this better to do it now than in the World T20 itself. I'll bring you the presentations shortly.
Marc: "Absolute thumping, other than the shocking commentary trying to jinx every few balls it was raw aggression and showed England were far from where they need to be. Got fairly lucky with the tests seeing as steyn and philander were injured."
George Macphers: "Embarrassing performance by England. The batting started well in the first 7 overs then after that it fell away. The batting order needs to be changed." The Morgan-Buttler stand was very good. Either side of that, less impressive!
Rob: "Hi Gnasher, really disappointing finish to the tour from England losing the last 5 games. Many thanks to you, Alan and Miller for you highly entertaining commentary throughout the tour" Thanks Rob, been a lot of fun.
Kanav: "Prediction: WT20 final to be held between India and South Africa"
peter bryant: "I'm sure batsmen will be having nightmares about facing Topley and Jordan on the flat pitches of India, next month." Will be interesting to see what the surfaces are like."
Presentation time...Eoin Morgan "We had two men at the crease who were in and from there 190-200 was on the cards, but the fact we didn't even get to 180 was disappointing. Then we started terribly with the ball. I'm not sure it's naivety, there was an element of bad luck. I'd rather be honest, we missed our length too much and we were punished. I honestly think [we are on the right track] and can win an ICC event, whether it's this one or in 2017."
Man of the Match is AB de Villiers "I really enjoy it up the order, you can just play normal cricket strokes and get value for them. I love playing here, the crowd is amazing, no different today and they pushed us over the line. Hopefully I can win a few games for the team."
Man of the Series is Imran Tahir "I'm really pleased for myself. My main goal is to do that as long as I can. I knew they would have a different gameplan today. It's been great talking to Faf about my plans. We are playing good cricket. It's a big honour to be part of a World Cup team for South Africa, maybe the pitches will suit spinners a bit more."
Faf du Plessis "We started very well, then it got away from us a little, but it was important how we came back. So that was important learning for us. There was great catching. We work a lot on it. Today was a good wicket for playing shots and AB played his 360 shots which made it easier for everyone else. I'm a very happy captain."
And that just about wraps it up for today as du Plessis gets his hands on the trophy (next to a big lion). Firdose's report on the action will be updated here shortly but from Gnasher and Alan it's goodbye and thanks for joining us.
back of a length, Amla gets inside the line and tucks to deep square
slower ball outside off, opens the face to the cover sweeper
full toss, straight, driven to deep cover
Jordan gets another turn
low full toss placed through the off side
that's a bit of a top edge, really, but carries comfortably into the stands over deep midwicket as he goes down on his back knee and slog sweeps
Murthy from Ind: "C'mon Andrew. Praise SA batsmen heavily and see if they can lose this match. If they don't even after your praise, you can tell all cricinfo followers that there is nothing called jinxing. Avneet will have his comment for his dinner" Doubt even I can jinx things from here
flicked out to deep square as he uses his feet
driven firmly to the cover sweeper
outside off, tapped into the covers
worked off the pads into deep midwicket, picks the gap between two deep fielders
cut to point
he opens up and dispatches a full delivery over long on with a free flow of his arms...stayed in the crease this time
now Amla comes down the pitch and is almost beaten as this turns away, but but adjusts his shot and cuts to point
played behind square on the off side
missed stumping, another fielding error, as du Plessis comes down the pitch and is beaten by the googly...Buttler didn't pick it either. He was a long way down the pitch
full at middle and off, pushed to cover
Mr Perspective: "Its not Englands bowling, it's Englands fielding that has let them down. Grassed countless opportunities to win the ODI series." We don't have enough perspective in feedback
short outside off, opens the face and pushes into the covers
swept from outside off behind square
more spin, du Plessis comes down outside off, takes a thick inside edge into the leg side
driven down the ground to long on