9.01pm And with that, South Africa gather to collect their series trophy. A fine win for a fine team, to cap a fine month for the game in the country. With the success of the SA20, there's been a buzz about this performance, and they are well on track to make it to the World Cup automatically. From Miller, Alan and Ranjith, good night!
Presentation time
Temba Bavuma: "Very happy, came in under a lot of pressure for World Cup points, done ourselves justice against a top side. We've challenged ourselves, a lot of learnings, a lot of confidence in how we've gone about it. Guys going out and expressing themselves. Looking to be positive, how England play their cricket. We've seen something different with our batters. A lot of boxes ticked in the series. Guys will keep playing in the same vein, want it to become part of our culture. Even in Test cricket. Winning the series in the main series, super-happy for the team, and I'm finding the gaps again. I'm a happy captain standing here at the moment."
Jos Buttler is the Player of the Match, and Player of the Series.
"Nice to finish with a win today. Bar ten or 15 overs in first ODI we've played some brilliant cricket in a hard-fought series. Congrats to SA. Both wanted to bowl first, it wasn't straightforward at the top, so was a fantastic effort. We spoke about building a partnership, it would get easier, and not the biggest ground so we could catch up. Some really good strides, guys making hundreds is excellent, and Jofra Archer's performance tonight was excellent and deserving of MoM award. Broke the game open with wicket of Klaasen. A lot of senior players, Woakes, Moeen, Adil, Roy, leaders themselves. We've a strong squad, bar the recent results, we're building nicely."
"The schedule is something we have to work with... great to be back together as a group for a short period of time. Look forward to joining up again in Bangladesh."
8.47pm South Africa, meanwhile, are back to needing favours in their World Cup qualification. They have to beat Netherlands 2-0 and hope that New Zealand can beat Sri Lanka at least once... nevertheless, they've have accepted this 2-1 result in advance, you suspect.
Noor: "Captain Buttler or Captain Bavuma for Player of the Series award?" Bavuma was magnificent to be fair (and a series-winner too). Didn't get as many runs, but in terms of leading from the front, he showed how he needs his team to go. And his captaincy in game one was excellent too
Richard : "Got to be honest after Jofra's figures in the other match. I wouldn't have played him. How tough to be an armchair coach!" Well, irrespective of that first game, these matches are mostly about honing England's 50-over form ahead of the World Cup. And therefore, his presence was a no-brainer once he had pulled up fit.
8.42pm Well, that was a very entertaining three-match series. Could only really have been improved if the second and third matches had been reversed and this was a decider. A 59-run win seems fairly routine, but from 14 for 3 in the first instance, and then with Klaasen going like the clappers in the chase, South Africa's 3-0 was very much on. But up popped Jofra Archer, with a career-best haul of 6 for 40, the third-best by an England bowler in ODIs, and the end came rapidly.
Jonathan: "The right thing to do would be chop up the Man of the match award into three and give a piece each to Buttler, Malan and Archer. Three extremely key performances in England's win today. " So true. Can't separate those batting performances
T Shamsi b Archer 1 (11m 10b 0x4 0x6) SR: 10.00
END OF OVER:43 | 6 Runs | SA: 287/9 (60 runs required from 42 balls, RR: 6.67, RRR: 8.57)
- Lungi Ngidi5 (2b)
- Tabraiz Shamsi1 (9b)
- Reece Topley7-0-48-0
- Jofra Archer9-1-40-5
Owais Ahmad: "Gotta give it to SA. They never let the RRR go out of bounds. Good fight. "
END OF OVER:42 | (wicket maiden) | SA: 281/9 (66 runs required from 48 balls, RR: 6.69, RRR: 8.25)
- Tabraiz Shamsi0 (5b)
- Lungi Ngidi0 (0b)
- Jofra Archer9-1-40-5
- Adil Rashid10-0-68-3
Robert : "Hands up who was scared they'd never see this version of Jofra again. Bet Steve Smith is following the score." I won't lie. I did worry at times. So pleased for him. But it's early days yet. The Ashes are still a long way off in his comeback narrative
Os du Randt: "Just realised South Africa has a full front row in their last 3 batsman! " And coming from the Ox himself that's something. I can still feel the vibrations of that Scott Gibbs hit though...
It's all over now. Bar the sweet swinging of Tabraiz Shamsi's blade
WD Parnell b Archer 34 (54m 29b 3x4 1x6) SR: 117.24
Archer...
END OF OVER:41 | 2 Runs 1 Wkt | SA: 281/8 (66 runs required from 54 balls, RR: 6.85, RRR: 7.33)
- Wayne Parnell34 (28b)
- Adil Rashid10-0-68-3
- Jofra Archer8-0-40-4
And that's a fitting end to Rashid's spell. Took some tap in between whiles, but turned it a mile today
SSB Magala c †Buttler b Rashid 2 (7m 6b 0x4 0x6) SR: 33.33
