Brilliant Buttler just times it to perfection
Captain is at acrobatic best to steer England to a priceless victory
Crisis, what crisis? it seemed England had fallen short with the bat again at Old Trafford last night and were heading for another 50-over defeat. But another inquest was averted in spectacular style by their trio of left-arm seamers.
The returning reece Topley and David Willey, together with sam Curran, simply blew south Africa away as they crashed to six for four and then 27 for five aided by a superb run-out from Jos Buttler in reply to 201 in what became a 29-over game because of rain.
it was England’s best ever start to a one-day international innings, the first four wickets falling in 10 balls without them conceding a run, and one that rescued their underperforming batters and squared this three-match one-day international series.
There was no way back from there as south Africa quickly perished for 83. Now the sides will head to Headingley for tomorrow’s decider with England’s first white-ball series victory under Buttler now within reach.
‘it feels great, it’s great for us to get the win,’ said the England captain. ‘i’m delighted how we came out with the ball and those early wickets really put us on our way.
‘it’s paramount and i think we saw that today, guys continue to try and play in the fashion that we want to as a team. Can we do it better? Absolutely.
‘But that positivity gets us up to a score that now looks like a great score. We know that we can improve, but that will consistently be the message.
‘i want guys to back themselves and take risks, a lot of the time it doesn’t feel like a feel. We’re trying to impose ourselves on the opposition, we’re trying to put pressure back on them. Even when conditions are tricky, we can get them off their lengths.
‘There are a lot of ways to do that but i want them to stay positive.’
Despite their failings with the bat, south Africa were excellent with the ball, with Keshav Maharaj deciding to bowl even though there was no real swing or seam with the two white balls.
instead, there was potent wobble seam from the excellent Dwaine Pretorius, good slower balls from Lungi Ngidi and intelligent spin from the south African captain and the left-arm spinner Tabraiz shamsi.
England are determined to stick with Jason roy alongside his long-term opening partner Jonny Bairstow but again there was a lack of fluency from the surrey man who hit three fours before falling to the pace of Anrich Nortje. Phil salt had been given the opportunity on his home ground of filling the giant shoes of Ben stokes and there were glimpses of promise in his 17 off 10 balls before he became the first of four victims for Pretorius.
Much rested on the shoulders of the two batters who have done so much to transform England’s Test fortunes, Bairstow and Joe root. Yet they fell in the same Pretorius over, root advancing down the wicket but skying an attempted hit over midwicket, Bairstow bowled by that slower, wobble seam.
When Moeen Ali gave it away caught on the boundary, as he does too often, and Buttler sliced shamsi to short third man, England were in danger of imploding again. That they at least reached what seemed like only respectability was thanks to some powerful striking from Liam Livingstone and Curran.
Livingstone smashed the 90+mph pace of Nortje for three successive sixes at the start of the 21st over.
His chances of six sixes in an over ended when he flashed the fourth ball over slips for four and it was all over from the fifth when he slapped a virtual tennis shot to wide mid-on.
still, the Lancashire batter had made 38 off 26 balls and showed England the way forward in this format, albeit all too briefly. Curran was not far behind in hitting three sixes of his own and he was another to find the boundary in three successive balls, in his case, four, four, six off shamsi, before falling
to a slower, wider ball. Then the England innings became a case of just trying to use up their 29 overs — something they never did under Morgan — but they were unable to even do that, Adil Rashid run out with five balls remaining as England were bowled out for the fifth successive time in this spell of transitional 50-over cricket. But their mood was immediately improved.
A total of 201 suddenly seemed far more than respectable when Topley, rested for the first game in Durham, made two early incisions, including century-maker on Tuesday in Rassie van der Dussen strangled down the leg side without scoring. He has now taken 11 wickets in 50-over cricket against India and South Africa while missing the first ODI.
Willey was another who missed the heavy defeat in Durham but he dismissed Quinton De Kock the ball after Topley sent back Van der Dussen and, when Buttler ran out Aiden Markram before he had faced with a brilliant piece of fielding, England were in business.
Their bowlers were able to gain far more movement under the Old Trafford lights than South Africa had managed and when drizzle returned Buttler turned to spin to make sure he could hurry through to 20 overs and complete a match.
It wasn’t necessary as Ali and Adil Rashid played their part in what was an emphatic and important win for England and Buttler, the leg-spinner ending with three wickets. They will now hope to add a series triumph to it in Leeds tomorrow.