SA vs ENG | Twitter commends World Champions' character in comeback 59-run win to avoid whitewash

02/02/2023

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Jofra Archer was at his devastating best as he took six South African scalps

England showed great spirit to stage a comeback in the final ODI against South Africa as they played out of their skin to register a memorable 59-run win against the odds. The team looked down and out in the early stages but went on to post a big total before clinically restricting the Proteas.

England put all criticism about their credentials as the reigning world champions to bed by registering a 59-run win with an all-round performance in Kimberley. The visitors were struggling at 14/3 courtesy of a fierce opening spell by Lungi Ngidi who eventually ended up with four wickets. However, Dawid Malan dug in deep at the tacky wicket while Jos Buttler played with his usual flamboyance. The duo worked like a dream as Malan upped his strike rate at the speed of knots before both reached their centuries. Malan ended with 118 off 114 balls while Buttler high-scored with 131 off 127 deliveries, leading the side to a mammoth total of 346/7.

In response, the Proteas started off with a flurry thanks to skipper Temba Bavuma who scored 35 off 27 deliveries. \Reeza Hendricks scored a half-century but scalps at regular intervals disrupted their momentum. Even though the required run rate was kept in check throughout, thanks in large part to Heinrich Klassen's aggressive 80 off 62 deliveries, the wicketkeeper batter kept running out of partners. A late fightback led by Wayne Parnell's 34 off 29 deliveries was no match for Jofra Archer's express pace that was at its devastating best. The pacer ended with figures of 9.1-1-4-6, scripting his name on the honours board.

That's a fifer!

— MINI BUS 2022 (@minibus2022)

Best figures

6-40 👏👏👏👏👏👏💪🏼
— Dhedhi 🇲🇼🇿🇼 (@Gerald_Aliseni)

Real joy

Jofra Archer with his 1st 5fer in ODI Cricket for England 👏👏

Seeing him back in an England Shirt & bowling fast is a real joy 😍
— Dean 'The Phenomenal Adonis' (@BrolyAdonisDC)

Superb ability!

Jofra provides our bowling unit with that game changing ability that a number of our batters have had for years now
— Graeme Moore (@DrGraemeMoore)

Streak break

finally win ODI after five losses on the bounce
— Mohsin 🇵🇰 (@RealMohsin20)

Position to drift

At one point partnership of Klaasen & Parnell were in position to drift the match away from England.

But that's South Africa for you.
— Shailesh Singh (@shailesh09ec)

May be dropped!