Eoin Morgan said the key to victory was the performance of England’s veteran spin-bowling duo, Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali, after a nerve-jangling but ultimately comfortable two-wicket win against South Africa in Johannesburg.
England recalled the two most capped spinners in their one-day international history for the series finale, and saw them effectively decide the game in the first innings. Rashid, in particular, bowled beautifully.
“I thought we bowled well today. Adil and Mo coming in and showing their value, Adil with the control and variation he was outstanding. I thought the chase was well within our grasp, and it was disappointing to limp over the line. I thought we should have done it four or five down with the partnerships we had.”
England’s batting looked brittle chasing 256, but Morgan identified some positives in the performances of the oldest and youngest members of his team. “Tom Banton showed promise, Joe Denly’s two knocks have been really, really good, Saqib [Mahmood] came in today and bowled beautifully up front,” he said.
“So there’s lots there. It was probably our best performance in the field and with the ball, and it was nice to come back and play like that. On a wicket that exposes our weaknesses [as a batting team], we need to get better at that.”
For Rashid this was a first proper game since November, having worked hard in the gym to regain the “snap” in his action after his shoulder injury. On a pitch that does not often take spin he said the key was his use of variations. His googly in particular had an alluring amount of dip and fizz.
“One thing I look to strive on is my variations in whatever conditions, that’s a big part of my armoury,” he said. “Today was one of those days where I tried it and it came out nicely.”
When asked Rashid also explicitly ruled himself out of any chance of selection for the Sri Lanka Test tour, the squad for which will be announced next week.
“I’ve got to go back into county cricket, get the performances under my belt and then get selected on merit. If the selectors do ask me: ‘If you are available, can you play?’ it would be a straight ‘no’. I feel as though I’ve got to deserve my place back in the team.”
South Africa’s captain, Quinton de Kock, praised the “energy” of his team in defeat. “We thought it was getting tight at the end. We gave ourselves a sniff and it was cool to make it tough for the England guys.”
