South Africa have levelled the one-day series against England after winning the fourth match by one wicket at the Wanderers

After posting what looked like a well below-par 262, England came very close to defending the total after reducing their hosts to 143-5 after 29 overs. The Proteas and Chris Morris in particular, fought back though, capitalising on a drop by Adil Rashid to blast his side to victory. 

The win sets up a series decider on Sunday at Newlands, with South Africa potentially carrying forward the momentum they have gained from winning matches three and four in the series. 

Root saves England with ton following middle-order collapse

England were inserted after AB de Villiers won the toss, and looked to be struggling early on, failing to find the boundary despite some poor bowling by the South African quicks. 

Scoreboard pressure soon paid off for the bowling side, with Jason Roy taking on a short ball off Kagiso Rabada which he mistimed straight to Kyle Abbott at fine leg to fall for six. Roy's fellow opener Alex Hales and Joe Root then went about building the innings and looking to set up a platform for the middle order to take the score past 300. 

Just as England looked to be on top, Hales was caught on the leg-side boundary for 50 after failing to hit Imran Tahir over the boundary, with substitute David Miller waiting to take the catch just inside the rope. 

Hales' wicket was the beginning of a terrible collapse for England, with Tahir the main man, picking up three wickets in no time at all. Eoin Morgan was next to go, miscuing a short-wide delivery from Tahir to point where he was caught by Farhaan Berhardien for just two. 

Ben Stokes then added only two before Tahir caught his outside edge, allowing Hashim Amla to take a stunning one-handed grab at slip. The wickets continued to tumble, with Jos Buttler falling caught-and-bowled to Abbott for one, and then Moeen Ali fell to the same bowler for just four as England found themselves 108-6. 

Whilst that was happening at the other end, Root continued to hold firm, and was able to put his foot down once he and Chris Woakes had overseen the bombardment from the home side. 

Woakes and Root added 95 crucial runs for the seventh wicket, before the Warwickshire all-rounder was caught behind for 33 off the bowling of Rabada. Root then bought up his hundred, accelerating through the 80's before he was eventually dismisssed for 109 in the 45th over after spooning Chris Morris to Tahir. 

Rashid then took the mantle from his fellow-Yorkshireman, flashing his batting potential once more with five quick boundaries in his innings of 39 which helped England towards a competitive total. Rabada then knocked Rashid and Stuart Broad over to finish with four wickets as England were dismissed for 262, wasting 13 balls at the end of their innings. 

Morris' late blitz downs England from winning position

Playing his first game in the series, Broad made a huge impact early on in his spell, accounting for the wicket of Hashim Amla for a duck to give England the perfect start. 

After a short break following floodlight failure, South Africa looked to be in pole position at 63-1, before England turned the game on it's head. Stokes knocked over the in-form Quinton de Kock for 27, and then Woakes saw off Faf du Plessis three balls later for 34 as England started to make inroads into the hosts batting lineup. 

Under pressure captain de Villiers and JP Duminy then began to rebuild and kept the required run rate at around five, which was helped by England dropping both men early in each of their innings. It took an incredible piece of fielding to bring the next dismissal, with Woakes fielding the ball off his own bowling before hitting the stumps with his underarm throw to send de Villiers on his way for 36.

Chris Woakes celebrates the run-out of AB de Villiers who looks into the dirt (image via: Getty)

Duminy followed soon after for 31, trapped in front by Rashid as England looked to be turning the screw, and pushing towards a series win. Once more though, the game took another turn, with Behardien and David Wiese putting on 48 for the sixth wicket to bring the runs required below 80, before Reece Topley pulled off a tough caught-and-bowled to dismiss Behardien for 38. 

That left South Africa with a host of bowling all-rounders who still needed more than a run-a-ball to keep the series alive. Wiese played a dreadful shot to lose his wicket off Stokes, and then Rabada pushed at a wide one from Topley to register a duck. 

The big moment of the match then came, when Morris tried to smash the ball over long-off, only to see the ball cannon up into the air, only for Rashid to make a meal of the relatively simple effort to give the batsman a lifeline.Morris then counter-attacked and it paid off big time.

The return of Broad with five overs remaining was met with some huge blows by Morris who brought the required runs well below the amount of balls remaining meaning that England were chasing wickets or they would face certain defeat. 

Morris then passed 50 with another boundary, before smashing Stokes for a six to leave just two runs needed for a famous victory. A single followed, which saw Morris on strike for the start of the next over and the game changed once more with Rashid bowling a googly to remove the bails and see South Africa lose their ninth wicket with one run still needed. 

That left Tahir to face Rashid and it only took one delivery for the South African to find the winning runs, mowing the ball to the covers to set the Wanderers crowd into delirium. 

The teams will meet once more in this series in Cape Town on Sunday, with the series on the line. 

VAVEL Logo
About the author