England snatch narrow win in last-ball thriller
minutes of the restart but an outstretched arm from Jordan Turner, playing his first game of the season following his suspension, forced a dropout when it looked for all the world Salford were going to score.
This respite didn’t last long, however and the Red Devils had their second of the evening through Dan Sarginson. The former Wigan man ran straight through a gap on the inside of Jermaine McGillvary and with a conversion from Lolohea, Salford took a 10-6 lead.
Giants struggled to get a foothold back into the game and were often forced into kicking in their own territory.
However, on their first real attack of the half, Giants punished Salford and, once again, Senior found himself on the scoresheet. A high looping pass from Sezer evaded the home defence and, despite shouts from the home fans for a forward pass, the ball fell to Senior who ran 15 metres to score in the corner. A difficult kick was missed by Sezer and the scores were level with 15 minutes of the second half gone.
Giants were now on the front foot – Turner forced a dropout with a clever kick but to no avail as the Red Devils defence held strong.
Both attacks probed but a poor kicking game from Huddersfield meant neither defence were stretched. McGillvary’s first real chance to run with the ball saw him make 40 yards in a move that almost saw English crash over in the corner.
Yet it wasn’t to be and the game remained
With a man advantage, Giants forced a succession of penalties and Sezer
slotted one over
at 10-10 as it entered the final 10 minutes. The match reignited with six minutes left after an unforced error from English gave the hosts a full set just 30 metres out.
It ended in a missed drop-goal attempt from Lolohea, a real let-off for Huddersfield.
They seemingly didn’t learn their lesson, however, as they conceded yet another penalty that resulted in a scuffle involving Kevin Brown, who was subsequently sent to the sin-bin for the remainder of the game.
With the man advantage, Giants forced a succession of penalties and eventually they paid dividends as Sezer slotted one over to make it 12-10.
The game fnished with a grand finale as Niall Evalds stormed down the wing and his kick had to be shepherded into touch by Darnell McIntosh.
With just seconds left on the clock, Salford couldn’t set the scrum in time and Giants made it two victories in two game as they head to Hull KR next week with a maximum points haul so far in 2020.
EOIN Morgan hailed England’s bowlers after a two-run win over South Africa in the second Twenty20 international at Durban.
The tourists collapsed in the opener on Wednesday, losing by one run, to ramp up the pressure in the three-match series as preparations continued ahead of this year’s T20 World Cup.
Ben Stokes struck an unbeaten 47 and Moeen Ali weighed in with a remarkable 11-ball 39 to propel England to 204 for seven yesterday.
Quinton De Kock put Moeen in the shadow with a blistering 65 off 22 deliveries before the Proteas were left 26 to win off the final two overs.
Chris Jordan conceded 11 from the penultimate over, leaving 15 for Tom Curran to defend from the last and the Surrey paceman held his nerve with three needed off the final ball.
England skipper Morgan said at the postmatch presentation: “We’d have liked to win both. The performance was a considerable improvement from East London.
“South Africa had the better of the batting conditions but our bowlers came up trumps today.”
On Curran’s final-ball heroics,
Morgan added: “It takes a lot of courage when the best ball to bowl is a gamble ball, the slower ball at the end.
“Fantastic catch by (Adil) Rashid, we go to Pretoria on Sunday at 1-1.”
Morgan also reserved particular praise for Jordan, who returned figures of two for
31.
He said: “He’s outstanding, one of our more experienced bowlers. He’s got a very cool, calm head on his shoulders. He seems to deliver when it matters. It’s a tough ground to bowl on here.”
South Africa captain De Kock was disappointed his side could not come out of the final-ball thriller on the right side.
He said: “It’s great cricket. Both teams are playing really good cricket at the moment. It was just unfortunate we didn’t come across the line.
“It was quite difficult. They bowled really well at the death, but I think we can get better. I’m sure the bowlers know that.”