The second game between South Africa and England in the two game T20I series
will be played on Sunday at Centurion. England had beaten South Africa
in the first match by a single run in the Johannesburg game, thanks to the intervention
of the rain, after it looked at one stage that the hosts would run away chasing
the target of more than 200.
Click for Live Score Card of South Africa vs EnglandThe second game could see a couple of changes all around. For starters, the
South African bowling seemed slightly toothless and apart from Ryan McLaren,
not too many made an impact. While Albie Morkel's form has already been a subject
of discussion, it was the bowling of Dale Steyn that would have caused
their side much heart burn. While one can expect Steyn to continue maintaining
his place in the side, Albie Morkel could be pushe around by the likes of Wayne
Parnell - who was injured and hence missed out - and even Yusuf Abdullah,
who played in the IPL for the Kings XI Punjab and had a good time.
From the batsmen's perspective, Loots Bosman did a fine job, especially given
that he was a replacement for Herschelle Gibbs in the squad. His smashing
knock ensured that his side was in the game till the last over, before the rain
put paid to their hopes. The flip to that is that the English bowlers and the
think tank would not have seen him bat earlier and would now understand more
about his game. This would mean that they will come at him a lot harder than
they did in the first game. Graeme Smith will continue to hold his team
together as a batsman, but one gets the sense that Jacques Kallis may make a
comeback to the side for the second game of the series.
For England, the story of the day belonged to Eoin Morgan who thrashed the
South Africans around for an 80. Paul Collingwood had supported him well
with a half century, and that helped the English side score those runs. However,
most importantly, it was Jonathon Trott's smashing four boundaries off the Steyn
over that propelled the side to a rollicking start. With the kind of history
between the South African-born Trott and the rest of the them, it would be interesting
to see whether he continues to take on the crowd in the second game, in the
same manner that Kevin Pietersen had.
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