Stokes, Wood deliver series for England after two-run thriller
In shadow-slanting summer sunshine, England took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the One-Day International series with a thrilling last-ball win over a scrapping South African side by just two runs on Saturday (May 27). Mark Wood was England’s hero, defending a six runs in the last over as David Miller (71 not out off 51) and Chris Morris (36 not out off 22), so brilliant in getting their team so close, swung and missed.
That ensured Ben Stokes’s 101 off 79 didn’t go in vain, with England having put on 330 for 6.
Things had felt very different eight hours earlier, with armed police patrolling the Ageas Bowl in Southampton, in the atmosphere of heightened security.
The cricket got underway with AB de Villiers calling the toss and inserting Eoin Morgan’s men under leaden skies with the white ball expected to swing. It didn’t, but Kagiso Rabada bowled very swiftly, beating Jason Roy for pace with a straight one that he played across, England losing its first wicket in the fifth over at 12 with the dot ball count climbing.
Joe Root took a particular liking to Dwaine Pretorius’s medium pace, clattering fours all around the ground. Alex Hales was taken beautifully by Quinton de Kock off Pretorius and Root soon followed Hales, run out backing up, as Pretorius got a fingernail on Morgan’s straight drive.
The home team’s anxiety to get on with it was exacerbated by de Kock’s willingness to stand up to the stumps, even against the medium fast seam of Andile Phehlukwayo – showcasing rare aggressive ‘keeping. That said, South Africa did offer a couple of reprieves in the field that proved costly.
The two lefties, Morgan and Stokes, struggled to find fluency, but hung in there, the overs ticking by as the scoring rate hovered around 5.
Just as the charge started, the skipper fell for 45, but Stokes, who had been reprieved by at slip first ball, rocketed off the carefully constructed launch-pad to notch his century off his 77th ball. His dismissal only united England’s finishers, Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali, who added 78 off 40 balls as the innings concluded on 330, a very satisfactory total after the home side had been 120 for 3 at the halfway mark. The fans’ mood, like the weather, had progressed from gloomy to sunny as the innings progressed.
In ever improving batting conditions, the South African chase got off to a decent start, despite Wood’s searing pace being enough to hit Hashim Amla flush on the grille. Though the experienced opener got a start, Amla was sent back in Stokes’s first over, soon to be followed by Faf du Plessis, caught behind off Liam Plunkett.
Those successes only brought England the dubious reward of bowling to South Africa’s two best batsmen in tandem, de Villiers joining de Kock in a partnership that realised 96 runs at a tick under a run a ball, before Liam Plunkett bent his back to induce a glove from de Villiers, out for 52.
What looked like the crucial moment of the match came in the 36th over when de Kock, on 98 and perhaps a little tired having been in the middle for nearly seven hours, got a faint edge to Moeen and was caught behind by Buttler, who was enjoying a good game. The visiting side needed 120 from 14 overs and England looked the favourite to win.
Miller posted his 50 off 34 balls and was joined by Morris for the charge to the line. But England had plenty of bowling options despite protecting Stokes’s injury, and Morgan was canny as captain. He squeezed and squeezed, as the asking rate climbed into double figures.
Morris was having none of it though, smashing anything in his half to the boundary. With 20 needed off the last two overs, Miller got in on the act by lifting Jake Ball over his head and into the sightscreen as the momentum shifted again. But Wood has a little bit of magic in him and he got the job done.
