It took a thumping 118-run win for England to learn the benefits of leaning to the left in the heart of Manchester.
Not even the threat of further rain could dampen the spirits at Old Trafford as England levelled up the three match series 1-1 with a final in Leeds to come on Sunday. And it was a win built on the skills of England’s three lefties, Reece Topley, David Willey and Sam Curran, who all got in on the act to check South Africa’s chase right from the off.
A target of 202 in 29 overs due to the earlier rain that had shortened the game was always going to take some getting, but when you suffer a horror start like the Proteas did then it becomes nigh on impossible.
Topley and Willey did the earliest damage along with a run out to leave the visitors reeling at 6-4, before Curran snaffled his scalp at 27-5. It was only a month ago against the Netherlands when England played three left arm seamers together for the first time, and one of them was David Payne instead of Topley.
The three here combined brilliantly to leave the Proteas praying for more rain, hoping it would wash things out before the 20 over mark was reached and the game was official. England’s spinners though rattled through the overs, picking up wickets as they went, Adil Rashid finishing with 3-29 as South Africa were skittled for 83 from 20.3 overs.
Moeen Ali picked up 2-22, to complete the rout and help England avoid a third defeat on the bounce. With the bat England again didn’t use their full allocation of overs, but the scoreboard had ticked over energetically enough for it not to be an issue.
Jason Roy, Phil Salt and Jonny Bairstow all peppered the boundary three times, but Dwaine Pretorious proved to be South Africa’s golden arm. He dismissed three of the top four in his first two overs to reduce England to 62-4 and then 72-5 when Keshav Maharaj had Moeen Ali caught in the deep.
On his home ground Jos Buttler was strangely becalmed scoring 19 from 27 balls, but once he had departed trying to up the ante, the all round stars could strut their stuff. Liam Livingstone and Curran should both have a big part to play in England’s ODI future in the absence of Ben Stokes and with their all round talents, both showed just how dangerous they can be with a bat in hand.
Curran got the ball rolling with a pair of sixes off Maharaj and Shamsi before Livingstone went into overdrive. Anrich Nortje was bowling fast, but the ball disappeared over the ropes even faster.
Three in a row from Livingstone got the crowd rocking, and of course he went for the fourth, only to see a thick outside edge run away to the boundary. With 22 already taken from the over, Livingstone wanted more. Once he gets going he cannot stop and it cost him again as he was caught at mid-wicket, but the damage had been done.
