SOUTHAMPTON: Tabraiz Shami ripped through England’s batting order as South Africa bagged a thumping win by 90 runs to seal the T20I series 2-1 against the hosts, here on Sunday.
Shamsi shone with his career-best figures of 5 for 24 to reduce England on 101 in their chase costing the hosts their third series loss this summer after skipper Jos Butler took charge of England’s white-ball team.
Reeza Hendrick blasted an astounding knock of 70 off 50, smashing nine scintillating boundaries while Aiden Markam anchored the Proteas’ innings with his unbeaten 51 off 36.
With his late cameo of 22 off 9, David Miller helped his team set the hosts a huge 192-run target to chase.
Opting to field first after winning the toss, England bowlers remained unimpressive and costly except David Willey who produced sensational bowling figures of 3 for 25. While Chris Jordan and Moeen Ali made a scalp apiece.
England, on the other hand, struggled with the bat as they were bowled out in the 17th over, with seven of their batters failing to reach double digits.
South Africa’s clever bowling strategy earned them wickets early in the second innings as right-arm pacer Anrich Nortje dismissed the opener Jason Roy for 17 off 18 while left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj got rid of skipper Butler for 14 off 10 to restrict the hosts on 39/2 at the end of the powerplay.
Andile Phehlukwayo and Markram then joined the party and bagged a wicket each as Dawid Malan and Moeen Ali fell cheaply on 7 and 3, respectively, before Shamsi wreaked havoc on England’s batting.
The left-arm spinner stormed England’s lower order with back-to-back wickets dismissing Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, David Willey, Chris Jordan and Adil Rasheed in the span of five overs between the 12th and 16th over.
Bairstow top-scored England’s scorecard with his 27 off 30 before he succumbed to Maharaj to bring the curtains down for his side.
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