A half century from England’s clockwork soldier – Nat Sciver-Brunt – got them over the line in the 1st T20, despite a team performance that was really little improved from their previous outing – the humiliating defeat to West Indies in their final group game of the World Cup last month.
Even so, England probably still wouldn’t have won it, were it not for a disastrous 15th over bowled by Ayanda Hlubi which cost 22 runs. How much must Laura Wolvaardt have been wishing she could have turned instead to Marizanne Kapp, who is being rested for this series having been playing for Melbourne Stars in WBBL?
South Africa 142-5 v England 143-6 #SAvENG 🏏
The trajectory of England’s innings was clearly heading for defeat going into that over, although to fair with NSB at the crease you never know.
South Africa 142-5 v England 143-6 #SAvENG 🏏
But at a stroke, they went from being slightly behind the rate, to well ahead of it, and with Sciver-Brunt ticking along like a Swiss clock England were able to see out the game with 4 balls to spare.
England had one other huge slice of luck at the death – Sciver-Brunt was hit on the pads by Nonkululeko Mlaba with ball tracking showing that the ball was hitting the stumps; but to South Africa’s frustration it was only just hitting, and “Umpire’s Call” came into play, so because the umpire had originally called it ‘Not Out’, it stayed that way.
I wasn’t previously a huge fan of “Umpire’s Call” but reading Daisy Christodoulou’s brilliant book on VAR in football has somewhat changed my mind on this – although it leads to decisions that are objectively “wrong” (like this one) it acts counterintuitively to defuse the tensions around marginal decisions that exist in football by prioritising the human element in close-cut calls.
The real piece of luck for England though is having Nat Sciver-Brunt in their team at all. With Meg Lanning semi-retired, and Ash Gardner becoming more and more a spin bowler who occasionally does something with the bat, is there any doubt whatsoever who the best player in world is right now?
Matches Won for England 2022-24
Since the start of 2022, NSB has won 15 games for England with the bat – 6 more than the next player – Alice Capsey, who was bizarrely dropped for this series… then recalled… then told she definitely wasn’t going to play… then asked to be ready to put on the wicket-keeping gloves if anything happened to Amy Jones today!
Yes, you read that correctly – a player who has never played as a wicket keeper in a professional match, was England’s backup option if the worst happened, after Bess Heath was put on a plane back to England with a broken thumb.
To be fair, this probably falls into the categories of both ‘Unlikely’ and ‘Could Happen To Anyone’ – most teams don’t carry around a third keeper. But it does nonetheless feel very ‘England’ for this to have happened right now. They are all-but dead in the water, being kept afloat by one exceptional player.
The rest of the batting lineup didn’t so much drape themselves in glory as cover themselves in ketchup. Sophia Dunkley, who has apparently been told she has a free pass for this series, and Maia Bouchier, both got out trying to play flashy premeditated dinks, which were wholly unnecessary at that stage in the game, with predictable results. As Taylor Swift didn’t quite say: You play stupid shots; you lose stupid wickets.
#SAvENG 🏏
Heather Knight faced 4 balls, and honestly looked like she didn’t quite know what country she was in. Possibly because… she doesn’t quite know what country she’s in, having gone from the UAE to Australia to South Africa in the space of a month. International travel across time-zones is hard, and it gets harder as you get older (believe me!) but hopefully the money she got from her fly-past of WBBL was worth it.
And we haven’t even got to the bowling!
After the previous generation of England coaches worked so hard to turn Lauren Bell’s potential into consistency; the currently generation are starting to look culpable for totally breaking her. We’ve seen death overs before where she’s been taken to town by brilliant batting; but this felt like something else – Nadine de Klerk (whose own recent form with the bat has been indifferent, at best) didn’t need to take her to town – she took herself, willingly.
Sophie Ecclestone didn’t really have a great day with the ball either, getting through her 4 overs mostly on reputation; though being introduced in the 3rd over probably didn’t help. Heather Knight seems to be calling on her earlier and earlier, desperate for something to happen when her initial plans wobble; but it is very odd considering how adamant England are that their best batter (NSB) can mess others around to enter the fray at her prefered moment after the powerplay, moving Capsey hither and thither as collateral damage; but not their best bowler?
For everyone else, it is hard to look at the figures and say they were “bad” exactly; but they weren’t good. Sarah Glenn looked a bit off; Freya Kemp is not really an international class bowler in her current form; and Charlie Dean bowled one very good ball, but that was about all. Collectively, it’s the same old same – England failed to take wickets – they simply don’t have any penetration beyond Ecclestone, who most teams wisely now just try to see off.
But they still won. And in the moments after the final ball was bowled, the camera panned to Jon Lewis in the dressing room looking rather smug. He was right – they are a brilliant team, and winning this match proved that. Didn’t it?
CRICKETher 
You’re spot on here, Syd! It was a very average performance from England, and a lucky win. It was thanks to the brilliance of NSB and the inexperience of Hlubi, although you didn’t mention Amy Jones’ good knock, which I also felt was key.
Our fielding was pretty poor again with one or two exceptions, and I love your line “The rest of the batting lineup didn’t so much drape themselves in glory as cover themselves in ketchup” – very apt.
NSB played one such innovative shot once she was well set, but the others simply got themselves out too early, it shouldn’t be happening and responsibility needs to be taken.
With SA quite a few players down, this should have been a comfortable victory but it was close, because England’s performance was so below par. SA will come back hard in the next couple of games and England will need to be much improved to secure a series win.
NSB is a useful bowler but I personally don’t like seeing her open the bowling, it should be a specialist bowler with a focus on taking wickets.
In a way this game was a microcosm of what’s wrong with the side at the moment: poor selections, getting tactics wrong, dropping catches, poor shot selection from many of the top order, continually bowling down leg side, bowling first when we should have seen the dry pitch would start to break up and keep low in the second innings. The list goes on. England are just not a “smart” enough or consistent enough side and this has been getting worse under Lewis.
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I am afraid Lewis is a great coach when things are going well!! Other times Mr Average. To have Alice Capsey on reserve keeper duty is just bonkers.The fitness issue showed in the fielding, a couple of players need to become a bit leaner? Or am I alone in this thought?
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