England survive late collapse, square series

ENGLAND survived a late collapse to square the series when they beat South Africa by two wickets in the third and final one-day international at the Wanderers Stadium yesterday.

England were cruising to victory at 232 for four after leg-spinner Adil Rashid and his fellow slow bowlers restricted South Africa to 256 for seven after they were sent in to bat.

“We bowled really well today,” said England captain Eoin Morgan.

“We probably had the best of the conditions. It was our best performance in the field and with the ball.”

Morgan said he would have liked to finish with a “commanding” win. “It was disappointing to limp over the line like that,” he said.

South African captain Quinton de Kock praised the energy his inexperienced team had shown in the two completed matches, which were shared 1-1.

“We had a bit of a sniff but it was still a loss,” he said of yesterday’s game but it was pretty cool to make it tough for the English side.”

Man of the match Adil, playing in his 100th one-day international but in his only appearance in the series, took three for 51, including the key wickets of Temba Bavuma and De Kock, who made 69.

“It was a nice wicket with a bit of turn and bounce,” said Adil.

Joe Denly shared partnerships of 76 with Joe Root (49) and 70 with Tom Banton (32) but the capacity crowd were lifted when Denly was caught in the deep off Ngidi for 66 and Banton fell in the next over to Beuran Hendricks.

Ngidi dismissed Tom Curran and Adil before Ali completed England’s win.

England will finish their tour with three Twenty20 internationals against South Africa, starting in East London tomorrow.