Morris was named Man of the Match for his crucial knock of 62
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
South Africa all-rounder Chris Morris was the hero of the fourth ODI against England in Johannesburg as he blasted a match-winning 62 to lead the Proteas to a one-wicket win.
However, England batsman Joe Root deserves a lot of credit and will consider himself very unlucky as for the second consecutive time, his century went in vain.
South Africa captain AB de Villiers would have been pleased with his decision to bowl first early on as Kagiso Rabada dismissed opener Jason Roy for six runs.
However, Alex Hales steadied England’s innings with his knock of 50, which came off 56 balls and included seven boundaries, before the tourists endured a middle order collapse that left that struggling at 108/6.
Hales scored his sixth ODI fifty
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
Just when South Africa seemed to be on top, Root brought England back into contention with his spectacular innings of 109, which came off 124 deliveries and included 10 boundaries and a six.
Root celebrates after scoring his eighth ODI century
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
Thanks to Adil Rashid’s quickfire 39 towards the end of the innings, England managed to make 262 before they were bowled out.
Rabada was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets, while Imran Tahir snapped up three, Kyle Abbott got two and Morris chipped in with one.
Chasing 263 to win, South Africa lost Hashim Amla early on for a duck before the rest of the Proteas’ top and middle order all made decent contributions to edge the team ever closer to their target.
However, with South Africa running out of batsmen, Morris stepped up and hammered 62 off 38 balls, which included three boundaries and four sixes, to put the Proteas on the verge of victory before Tahir hit the winning runs in the 48th over.
Rashid, Reece Topley and Ben Stokes snapped up two wickets apiece, while Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes claimed one wicket each.
England captain Eoin Morgan was gutted to have lost the match, and said: “At the halfway stage it was South Africa’s game to lose, Joe Root was magnificent again but we pegged it back with some great bowling. The game ebbed and flowed, but it was our game to win at the end. Woakesy got the ball moving around, they played out of their skin but we had chances in the field and that’s the disappointing thing. But to see the fight they showed is hugely encouraging.”
De Villiers was thrilled to have levelled the series at 2-2, and said: “We didn’t need a nine-downer tonight, but what a fantastic game. Very happy at halfway, we had an opportunity to bowl them out for 150 but we thought that 260 was very chaseable. A bit naughty with my run-out and a couple of soft wickets. But I’m happy to be on the winning side and take it to Cape Town.”
Morris was named Man of the Match, and said: “A lot of work on my batting in the last few months, and just happy to take the win tonight. When Dave got out we were in a bit of strife. Luckily they dropped me and I thought, this is a chance to play cricket for your country, when it’s in your arc, you can hit it.”