England lose four wickets in final seven balls to somehow throw away first T20 vs South Africa

ENGLAND lost four wickets in the final seven balls and somehow contrived to lose a match they appeared certain to win.

When captain Eoin Morgan whacked successive deliveries for 4, 4 and 6 in the penultimate over, England needed seven runs from seven balls with five wickets standing.

Jason Roy had already played a pulverising innings of 70 from 38 balls and Morgan was 52 not out. But then it went belly-up with spectacular and alarming speed.

Remember, Twenty20 cricket is England’s big white ball priority this year because there is a World Cup in Australia in October and November.

So not the best start to their dreams of becoming world champions in the shortest format as well as 50-over cricket.

Morgan holed out to long-on when trying to chip a single. The third umpire checked for both a front-foot and back-foot no-ball but judged that Beuran Hendricks’ feet were okay.

Then Tom Curran and Moeen Ali perished in the final over delivered by Lungi Ngidi before Adil Rashid, needing three to win and two for a super over, was run out after completing a single.

Ngidi conceded five runs in both the 18th and 20th overs.

'ALWAYS IN CONTROL...'

It meant South Africa won the opening encounter of the three-match T20 series by one run.

The Proteas - and Ngidi in particular - bowled with skill and deception at the death and chasing 178 is never a gimme. But Morgan and head coach Chris Silverwood will be concerned that some batsmen lost their heads.

Curran, for example, was caught on the boundary attempting to hit his second delivery for six into the wind when knocking the ball around for ones and twos might have been more prudent.

Morgan said: “When you lose a game by one run, there are many things you can look at. But, to be honest, the way we played wasn’t up to our normal standards.

“We were always in control of the chase - it was great to see Jason back in form - and I continued that. We were doing really well until the 18th over when Ngidi came back and we didn’t deal with his slower balls.

“The ball that I was out to was in the slot and I smoked it straight to the man. I was fuming, I hit it too well. It should never have happened. I should have got a single and been facing the last over with six to win.

“But it was still our game to win going into the 20th with seven runs needed. Absolutely, we should have scored those runs.”

Morgan and Silverwood will also be worried that England surrendered 68-1 in the initial six-over power play and South Africa reached 105-1 by the halfway point of their innings.

Mark Wood, Chris Jordan and Tom Curran took some terrible punishment and only the spin of Moeen and Rashid staunched the flow. There were also misfields by Joe Denly and Chris Jordan and Jason Roy dropped a catch.

Wood returned more successfully and his final over - the 20th of South Africa’s innings - went for just five runs.

Roy led the assault in the early overs of England’s run chase and 68 came from the power play - exactly the same as South Africa.

But Roy flapped a slower ball to fine leg, Denly and Ben Stokes were caught on the boundary before Morgan looked to have everything under control. Then, in the final switch of a topsy-turvy match, came the late clatter of England wickets.

England lost both the First Test and the opening 50-over on this tour and came back strongly so perhaps they can do the same at Durban on Friday and Centurion two days later.