England 's cricketers felt the true cost of Brexit as Rilee Rossouw played a match-winning hand in the 2nd T20 to set up a finale in Southampton on Sunday.
Forced to try and chase a record score on this ground after South Africa tabled 207-3 thanks to the return of the big hitting Rossouw, England were bowled out for 150 and beaten by 58 runs.
Denied a maiden T20 hundred thanks to yet more clinical death bowling by Chris Jordan, Rossouw had to be happy with 96 not out to remind the Proteas of what they had been missing for the past six years.
Prior to this series, the former Kolpak player last played for South Africa in 2016 before choosing to play as a ‘local’ for Hampshire, but after Brexit, those deals were cancelled and he is now back in the fold for his country just in time for this year’s World Cup.
A run-heavy stint for Somerset in the T20 Blast was the perfect preparation for this series and it showed as he slammed the England bowlers down the ground wherever possible to pepper the shorter boundaries.
England thought they had their man on 37 when he tickled Jordan down the legside and Jos Buttler ‘caught’ it, only for replays to suggest it hit the turf, giving him the chance to take down the bowlers again and again.
In response Buttler looked as though he might take the biggest bite out of the chase with back to back sixes and a four from Andile Phehlukwayo’s first three balls. But unlike the night before when the bowler wasn’t backed up by his fielders, he got his man for 29 thanks to a good catch by Reeza Hendricks in keeping with a stunning display in the field from South Africa.
Spinner Tabraiz Shamsi’s 3-27 came courtesy of three smart catches as Jason Roy, Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone all got to double figures but couldn’t snatch the game. Perhaps there was no better catch though than Lungi Ngidi’s to get rid of Jonny Bairstow for 30 when he was in full flow much to the glee of the crowd.
Bairstow has been the breakout star of the summer for England and everywhere he now goes he enjoys a thunderous reception from fans who love what he’s doing.
He might have been well received in Cardiff regardless of what he had done elsewhere and in other formats, since he was the captain who scored two fifties in his two games for the Welsh Fire in last season’s The Hundred.
But the truth is that Bairstow has been entertaining crowds non-stop all summer and he was doing it again here with some brilliant batting to go with a super catch in the deep earlier to remove Hendricks for 53.
That was in contrast with the rest of his team-mates though who were scrappy throughout, with Gleeson dropping a catch and Sam Curran missing a straightforward run out chance.
