South Africa vs England 2nd T20 Full Highlights 2020

South Africa vs England 2nd T20 Full Highlights 2020
England 204 for 7 (Stokes 47, Roy 40, Moeen 39, Ngidi 3-48) beat South Africa 202 for 7 (de Kock 65, van der Dussen 43*) by two runs

A one-run margin on Wednesday, a two-run margin on Friday. Any chance of your fingernails growing back by Sunday? On an evening that throbbed like a Durban minibus, Tom Curran held his nerve superbly in a death-over scenario that had uncanny parallels with the World Cup final Super Over, as England levelled the three-match T20I series with just the decider at Centurion to come.

On an evening featuring 28 sixes - more than had ever before been scored in a T20I involving England or South Africa - the contest came down to the very final over, the very final ball, with Curran defending 15 runs, the same figure that Jofra Archer had had to play with at Lord's last summer, and then as now, the rollercoaster went to the very final twist.

A second-ball slog for six over cow corner? Check. Five runs needed from three balls? Check, as Dwaine Pretorius set himself to be a hero with a lacerating drive through the covers. Three from two? Check, as a canny leg-stump yorker was dug out to midwicket. Only then did the script truly deviate, as Curran showcased that desire to be a hero that sets the very best death-over specialists apart from the rest.

Up he popped with consecutive wickets, a pinpoint yorker to trap Pretorius in front of off - a moment that flirted with controversy as Quinton de Kock, the captain, appeared to instigate South Africa's use of the review with an impassioned signal from the dressing room. And then, the sucker punch. With Rassie van der Dussen stranded at the wrong end after keeping his team alive with 43 from 26, Curran served up a back-of-the-hand slowie to the new man Bjorn Fortuin, who could only flap an attempted ramp to short fine leg.

Even then there was an agonised wait for the final, final verdict, as Adil Rashid had been back-pedalling in anticipation of the catch. The umpires again called for the second opinion, but at the moment of Curran's release, Rashid was not obviously outside the fielding circle. And thus the decision, and the result, stood. Crumbs.

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