IPL has helped Stokes mature as cricketer: Botham
field first upon winning the toss.
“The stats show there’s something in it for the first 15 overs, and that’s when we want to do some damage,” said de Villiers after the coin fell his way for the third time this series.
As it turned out, the Proteas only needed a mere five overs to have England six down.
The fifth ball of the match saw Rabada strike when Jason Roy edged a good length ball to Hashim Amla at first slip.
Next over, Joe Root (two) was lbw to a swinging delivery from left-armer Parnbell
England then lost their next two wickets on 15.
Eoin Morgan, the England captain, fell for eight on his Middlesex home ground, was caught behind off Parnell for eight.
That was the end of the fourth over and next ball Alex Hales, trying to drive Rabada, got an outside edge to Amla and England were 15 for four.
It was the start of a brilliant over that yielded three wickets in five balls for Rabada. His fifth ball that over saw Jos Buttler,going for a big drive, well caught by Faf du Plessis at second slip.
Next ball, England’s 20 for five became 20 for six when Adil Rashid, even more recklessly, attempted a huge drive and edged to du Plessis for a golden duck.
Bairstow, England’s Test wicket-keeper who many believe should be in England’s firstchoice ODI side purely as a batsman, stopped the rot.
He showed his class by coverdriving Rabada and cutting fast bowler Morne Morkel for fours.
Bairstow received support from Yorkshire team-mate Willey before the all-rounder was caught drove Parnell to cover.
With just three days left to the commencement of hosts England’s Champions Trophy campaign against Bangladesh, former skipper Ian Botham has said that in-form all-rounder Ben Stokes has developed mentally as a player after his successful maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) stint.
The 25-year-old, who was named IPL’s Most Valuable Player, picked 12 wickets besides scoring 316 runs in 12 games he played in the 10th edition of the league to help Rising Pune Supergiant reach the final before he returned to England for international duty.
Recently, Stokes also smashed 11 boundaries and three sixes in his match-winning knock of 101 runs from 79 balls in England’s second ODI against South Africa on Saturday to underline his reputation as one of the players to watch at the upcoming 50-over marquee event.
Labelling Stokes as a ‘matured’ cricketer than before, Botham said that the former has returned from India with a lot clearer mindset.
“He has matured as person and cricketer. People were saying to me, ‘Do you think he should have gone for that long to the IPL?’ The answer is ‘yes’ because he’s come back a better cricketer. He’s probably thinking a lot clearer and knows what he wants to do; he doesn’t get flustered anymore,” cricket.com.au quoted Botham.
He’s come back from India a better cricketer and people should look at the bigger picture and not say ‘he got a knee injury in the IPL’ when he’s had that a while