De Villiers may fine-tune batting as Proteas aim to end on high note

PROTEAS captain AB de Villiers could be forgiven for tinkering with his batting line-up in the third and final T20 against England in Birmingham tonight.

One up, South Africa cannot lose the series, but they would obviously like to go out on a high.

Not much was gained from the second match, at Old Trafford in Manchester, which had been reduced to nine overs a side but was washed out after just four overs of the England innings.

South Africa showed they are well equipped to deal with difficult situations, such as these shortened matches which require attacking batting and de- fensive bowling. The Proteas management must have been heartened at Hashim Amla’s seamless transition into this form of the game, which gives them more options in deciding the right line-up.

The order of appearance on Monday was to a large extent influenced by the need to get big runs quickly but Amla’s 47 off 30 balls, which included fours driven imperiously over the covers and guid- ed sublimely to third man, showed he is up to the task of accelerating through the power play.

Jacques Kallis, too, was never under pressure when easing the Proteas to victory in the first T20 as an opener, but raised the pace when coming in at No 7 on Monday to score 13 off seven balls, with three fours.

The team that took the field at Old Trafford was probably the best South Africa can offer, especially with De Villiers himself coming in early.

Richard Levi still needs to get his eye in and will almost certainly get another chance tonight, while Wayne Parnell and Farhaan Behardien also need a run if De Villiers is going to give the whole squad time in the middle before they fly to Sri Lanka for the World T20.

South Africa look secure and comfortable with their set-up, while England are still trying to find form. Alex Hales, who came in for the “retired” Kevin Pietersen and immediately made 99 against the West Indies, has yet to fire, while Luke Wright was not given a fair crack of the whip on Monday.

Neither Eoin Morgan nor Jonny Bairstow has had a chance to show their ability in this T20 series. They will need to be more productive if they are to stop South Africa tonight.