banged in, Rashid slaps another single to long-on - South Africa win by 10 runs, but it won't be enough to see them through to the semi-finals
10pm: Time for the captains presentations, starting with Eoin Morgan: "I think it does a lot, thought it was a good wicket, SA came hard at us and batted well. Thought we bowled reasonably well and held them to a par score. Coming off, with the dew coming in, we thought we were right in it. Jason Roy going down doesn't help, but we thought we were right in it throughout. Every game tests us in different ways. Biggest test in group stage was Sri Lanka, having to bat first before the dew came in, then losing a bowler defending a low score. Today, different wicket, our batters could have been more expressive and bowlers had to find a defensive mode. [Roy] We've dealt with injuries, Stokes, Curran, Archer aren't here. We do have talent coming in, so that gives us confidence. We've built a core group of white-ball players, so we'll have to delve into that. Very happy, topping the group, we know how hard it is to get through. Finals are all about going and expressing yourselves, enjoying them, so we're going to do that."
South Africa's Temba Bavuma: "Win was important, but a bittersweet ending for us. Achieved what we wanted to do in terms of winning, but didn't win well enough. We gave our all with the bat and with the ball. [Net run rate?] Start of the tournament it wasn't a big factor, we felt we wanted to win the game. Tough to bring NRR into effect in our last game, especially against a side like England. But very proud of the side and think there's a lot we can take away from this. We've got to build on the confidence and momentum, this will give us experience and learnings we can take from this World Cup going forward."
Right, that's a wrap from Sharjah for tonight. Group 1 has been decided, but there's still plenty of jeopardy (and NRR discussions) in the other half of the draw - New Zealand looking to beat Afghanistan tomorrow and confirm a semi-final spot, but with all of India rooting against them, before the Super 12s conclude on Monday. Anyway, thanks for your comments, as always. From myself, Peter, and Raghav, it's cheerio for now. Bye!
9.50pm: Victory for South Africa, but with a bitter aftertaste. They've beaten the group winners, but miss out on net run rate, with Australia joining England in going through to the last four. England top the group, pushing all the way for a fifth win from five... but the loss of Jason Roy, who's on a crutch by the side of the pitch to congratulate the South Africans as they come off, could be the most significant event of the night. One crumb of comfort for them: no team has previously lifted the T20 World Cup having not lost a game. Good time to get that out of the system, perhaps? The semi-final draw, of course, will not be confirmed until all the Group 2 permutations sort themselves out tomorrow and Monday; but there's a good chance Australia will face Pakistan, and England one out of New Zealand, India or Afghanistan
Rassie van der Dussen is named Player of the Match for his unbeaten 94: "In the context it doesn't mean too much, we knew we had to get a good score on the board and we've asked a lot from the bowlers, it was probably too much to get us into the semis. But still a good performance beating a good side. Type of wicket where if you get in, you're a lot more effective. You saw that at the back of their innings. Aiden and I knew if we took it to the end we'd be competitive. It's been tough, the three venues are so different. From a batting point of view that's been a challenge, and the batting units that adapted the quickest have been most successful."
short length and Wood plinks one backing away
short and into the pitch, Rashid bottom-edges a single
Adil Rashid. Can Rabada do a Curtis Campher?
HAT-TRICK! Clubbed to long-off! Third hat-trick of the tournament, and Rabada is laughing - all three of them caught in the deep, but never mind that. Another slower delivery, and England have taken a vow to going down swinging. Jordan stands still and plops it into the safe hands of Miller coming in
Jordan on strike for the hat-trick
picks out deep backward square leg! Two in two for Rabada, and South Africa look like holding their nerve here... Pace off that delivery, I think, and Morgan underclubbed it trying to hit to the longer part of the ground
Chris Jordan heads out, Morgan has the strike
heaved leg side... but he's not quite got enough! Nortje is the man running around at deep midwicket and he holds a slightly awkward catch under pressure. There's a lengthy check for the no-ball, but Rabada's foot is okay. Well held by the big man, clutching it to his chest as he thundered around a few inches in front of the rope
Rabada to try and finish this
England scrape and swindle 11 off the over, leaving 14 required. Woakes is on strike with the shorter boundary to target
skips down, heaves leg side and he wants two, going to be a tight second... but Rabada's throw from deep square leg is high and de Kock has too much to do!
sneaks a cutter through, Morgan setting himself to swing hard but fails to connect
pitched up, another big swing but this squirts away leg side
forehand smash out of the ground! Looks like Woakes has been playing tennis at the hotel... slower ball and it sits up, he climbs into it with a mighty swipe over long-off
Free hit for Woakes' first ball
fullish slower ball, plinked down to long-on for one... uh oh, but he's overstepped!
round the wicket, full outside off and he can only drag a mistimed shot into his pads
Chris Woakes is out for his first bat of the tournament, Morgan on strike as they crossed. Can he target the short boundary?
goes big, but picks out long-off! Back-of-the-hand slower ball from Pretorius and Livingstone can't quite generate enough power, it went pretty high but not far enough and Miller settles under the catch a few yards in from the boundary
Pretorius to bowl the 19th, RRR still above 12
Ibrahimburiro: "Alan so it will be Australia will face Pakistan and England against New Zealand or Afghanistan or India, right?" That's about the size of it (assuming Pakistan don't mess up against Scotland)
finishes with another pinpoint wide yorker and Morgan can't lay bat on it
steps away and throws the bat, gets it past third! Shamsi was the fielder, he flung himself full length but couldn't reel it in on the rope!
chopped towards backward point, there's a run-out chance with Livingstone backing up - but Nortje can't gather van der Dussen's throw cleanly!
TV reporting that Roy's left calf went earlier in the innings. He had to be helped off the field, and looks to be out of the tournament
slashed through the covers, Morgan makes a bit of room and carves it past the dive of Bavuma on the ring
excellent wide yorker from Nortje, only able to chop it into the turf through the covers
back of a length, 145kph/90mph and sliced for one to third
Nortje for his fourth
England need 35 from three, still doable - 43% of the time, according to Forecaster
slapped over backward point! He had all his protection leg side but sent this short and wide, Livingstone cashes in
1W | ||||
1W | ||||
1W | ||||
1W | ||||
1W | ||||
Sharjah Cricket Stadium | |
Toss | England, elected to field first |
Series | |
Season | 2021/22 |
Player Of The Match | |
Match number | T20I no. 1400 |
Match days | 6 November 2021 - night (20-over match) |
Umpires | |
Reserve Umpire | |
Match Referee | |
Points | South Africa 2, England 0 |
Over 20 • ENG 179/8