England set South Africa a target of 202 at Emirates Old Trafford as they attempted to keep their Royal London Series alive in a rain-shortened second one-day international against South Africa.
Having lost both white-ball series against India and the first ODI against the Proteas, it was make or break for Jos Buttler’s side, who were sent in to bat in a game reduced to 29 overs per innings.
For the fifth game in a row England lost all 10 wickets, but a couple of dashing lower-order knocks from Liam Livingstone (38) and Sam Curran (35) lifted them to a competitive total.
After ending a reduced six-over powerplay with a relatively healthy score of 49 for one, England lost a clatter of wickets as they stumbled to 72 for five.
Dwaine Pretorius, only playing due to fellow all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo’s concussion, was the primary antagonist with three big wickets in the space of just seven deliveries.
He dismissed Phil Salt after a brief cameo worth 17 and then removed the bankable Joe Root for just one, both batters overly ambitious in their attempts to get after smart back-of-length balls. Even better was a well-disguised slower ball that snuck past the attempted drive of Jonny Bairstow (28).
With opener Jason Roy first man down in the third over and Moeen Ali softly dragging Keshav Maharaj to long-leg, England had burned through half of their wickets with less than 12 overs gone.
With Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi controlling the rate, a subdued Buttler finally tried to get after the latter but sent a spiralling catch to short third to depart for 19.
His failure did not deter Curran or Livingstone and the pair had better luck in their own attempts to up the ante.
Curran lofted both spinners for sweet sixes down the ground before Livingstone took on the 90mph pace of Anrich Nortje and cleared the ropes three times in a row.
Each time he heaved the ball high in the long arc between fine leg and deep midwicket, momentarily raising the prospect of six sixes in an over. That hope ended when the fourth ball flew for four off a thick edge and the fifth brought a close to Livingstone’s fireworks as he dragged a short ball to the waiting David Miller.
Curran looked like he might make something more substantial, but had to settle for an 18-ball 35 when he holed out the skiddy Shamsi. England’s tail nudged them up over 200 but they still left five balls unused as Adil Rashid was run out at the death.
