Morgan can’t believe it

SEVERAL hours after all the hoo-ha over ball tampering, it fell to England captain Eoin Morgan to reflect on a success which had become improbable but was closed out by fine death bowling from Jake Ball and then in the last over Mark Wood.

‘We needed wickets — that’s what we talked about,’ he said.

‘So we went for the more attacking option.’

Remarkably, no wickets came — but South Africa’s chase nonetheless fizzled out inadequately into singles.

‘It’s unbelievable really,’ added Morgan.

‘I don’t know how to explain it really. I am almost speechless. To have won it without taking wickets is an unbelievable effort.

‘Woody’s yorkers are usually very good. So going against what he’s naturally good at, and just with his raw pace and variation with cross-seam off the wicket, worked through the day.

‘Then in that last over I think he might have bluffed him a couple of times.’

Proteas skipper AB De Villiers admitted he was beginning to believe his team should win.

‘I got a bit excited there at the end — I thought we had it in the bag,’ he said.

‘I thought Chris Morris and David Miller played a great hand in that partnership to get us so close ... (but) you’ve got to give credit to the last two bowlers for England.

‘They showed some great skill and good plans.

‘Unfortunately it didn’t go our way. We didn’t get that lucky bounce ... little edge over the wicketkeeper.

‘We were just waiting for one little break like that, and it would have been game over — but it didn’t come.’