Joy for Jonny
Bairstow smashes 60 as England thrash South Africa
The scorching heat of the day had subsided by the time England knocked off the winning runs, and what residual heat there was in the contest had long since dissipated too.
It was an ebullient, expressive, loose-limbed England who convincingly beat South Africa in last night’s first Twenty20 international in Southampton, sealing a ninewicket victory with 33 balls to spare.
What a contrast this was from the leaden performance of a week ago, when the Champions Trophy hosts were overwhelmed by Pakistan in a one-sided semi-final. But even if this was not the win England needed, it is a win they will certainly take, not least for the string of encouraging performances that buttressed it. “As close to a complete performance as you could ask for,” a beaming Eoin Morgan said afterwards.
The new-ball bowling was immaculate, Alex Hales and Jonny Bairstow punctured a modest South African target with clinical aggression and Chris Jordan again nailed his yorkers at the death. But the real damage was done in the middle of the first innings when, on their home ground, Hampshire’s Liam Dawson and Mason Crane threw a tarpaulin over the South African innings with eight overs of exceptional spin bowling.
Those overs, producing no wickets and lasting little more than 20 minutes, proved the crux of the match. Dawson, the left-armer, went for just 17 runs and no boundaries with his tidy darts. And in the eighth over of the South African innings, he was joined by the spindly tentacles of 20-year-old leg-spinner Crane, limbering up for his first bowl in an England shirt.
Great things are expected of Crane, who has built up a cloud of hype during his two short years in the county game. Conditions were in his favour: three early wickets with the new ball had forced an inexperienced South Africa back into their shells. But their captain AB De Villiers was still at the helm, and well-set.
Crane is not a classical, graceful leg-spinner in the Richie Benaud mode. Nor is he a vicious ripper like his idol Shane Warne. Instead, he sidles to the crease like a bowling machine, all jerky arms and angled shoulders. He flings the ball up at speeds of barely 50mph, getting through his overs quickly and ripping it plenty. Twice, he came close to trapping Farhaan Behardien with his crafty variations.
The early signs are encouraging, then, and he might even have bagged De Villiers too, had his topedged hoik not landed agonisingly out of the reach of Jason Roy at cover. Reprieved, De Villiers swung Crane’s final ball, a waist-high full toss – the classic leg-spinner’s pie – through mid-wicket for four. But for a kid on debut, four overs for 24 is not to be snorted at.
“Be excited,” an impressed Warne tweeted.
His batting and fielding will need to improve if he is to mount a serious challenge to Adil Rashid, but once those shoulders start bulking out he may start spinning it even further. And, as Crane retired to deep square leg with the warm applause of a capacity crowd in his ears and a film of sweat on his brow, he will have reflected that if this was international cricket was about, he could certainly do with some more of it.
Meanwhile, the spinners had tightened England’s grip on the game. South Africa flickered briefly into life late on – De Villiers stepped across his stumps and played a spectacular paddle for six, the sort that makes bowlers wonder whether this really is the job for them. But on a true surface, South Africa’s total still felt a little light. And so it proved.
England effectively had the game won by the end of the fourth over. It was bowled by Wayne Parnell, and Roy took it for 23 runs. After a tough summer in which he lost his place in the 50-over team, it finally felt like Roy had emerged from his tunnel. But the very next over, he inexplicably tried to reverse-sweep Andile Phehlukwayo’s first ball and was trapped plumb in front. Pure hubris. Pure lunacy.
Still, England were well ahead of the rate, forcing De Villiers to bring on his trump card, Imran Tahir, during the powerplay. The ease with which Hales swept him into the crowd at midwicket suggested the pitch was still playing fairly true, and with the match in their grasp, Hales and Bairstow were able to play within themselves.
Bairstow reached his half-century off 35 balls on his way to manof-the-match award. South Africa, meanwhile, went to pieces.
The lack of pace options available to De Villiers – no Kagiso Rabada (rested), no Dale Steyn (injured), no Morne Morkel (left out), no Kyle Abbott (retired and playing county cricket for, irony of ironies, Hampshire) – was ruthlessly exposed. The fielding went to pieces. Behardien dropped a simple catch on the longon boundary.
So the party could start early, at least in the stands. The Mexican waves started undulating around the ground. A short burst of ska brought a parched but happy crowd to its feet. The beer snakes began to take shape at the northern end, an impressive feat given the truncated format.
And although a few fans shuffled away early, spooked by rumours of the infamous Ageas Bowl traffic, as darkness finally draped its cloak over the south coast, the ground was still reassuringly full. And why not? A glorious evening, a crushing England win and a local debutant to celebrate.
It was the longest day of the year, but perhaps it only felt that way if you were South African.