Eoin Morgan believes tying down AB de Villiers was the key to success

Following England’s comfortable nine-wicket victory over South Africa in the first T20I at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, captain Eoin Morgan showered praise on his bowlers and talked about the importance of restricting AB de Villiers’ scoring ability. Though Proteas skipper de Villiers recovered from his Champions Trophy slump but was not his usual devastating self during a difficult 58-ball knock of 65.

He and Farhaan Behardien added 100 runs for the 90 balls – the second slowest in T20Is – to drag South Africa to 142 for 3 in 20 overs. England in their reply had little trouble chasing the target down as Alex Hales and then Jonny Bairstow had a great time in the middle. In the end, they got over the line just at the cost of Jason Roy.

“We never really let the quality of a player like AB de Villiers get away from us, which is a huge credit,” Morgan said after England’s victory on Wednesday. “I think it was a complete performance. It’s a great way to start the series. I think the guys did really well. Everything we literally planned for, came off.”

“We took early wickets. Guys in the middle managed to put a bit of a squeeze on. I thought the spinners in the middle – Mason’s [Crane] on debut and Daws [Dawson] has played a handful of games – did well, and backing that up with the finish with the seamers, I thought they never really got away from us,” Morgan added, stressing great importance on how England benefitted due to the early wickets they picked.

Importance of early wickets

England successfully hampered South Africa’s plans early on as JJ Smuts and Reeza Hendricks were back in the pavilion with just seven runs on the board. David Miller too didn’t get going, leaving AB de Villiers and Farhaan Behardien to rebuild from 32 for 3 in the 5th over.

“(It is) Extremely important (to pick early wickets). It’s the type of ground where it is very difficult to stop guys scoring. And to take those early wickets and put them back 5-6 overs within that game, allows us to control it a little bit more,” the skipper opined.

A controlled and calculated performance by the bowlers was then followed by the dominance of England’s batsmen who wrapped the chase in just the 15th over. Jason Roy dusted off from his last few innings and began with trademark carnage with Alex Hales for company. Though Roy couldn’t make a big score (28 off 14 balls), the start he gave flattened South Africa’s bowling and hopes early. Jonny Bairstow continued to show that his place was not on the bench after he scored a 65 off 35 that won him the Man of the Match.

Morgan praised the wicketkeeper-batsman for grabbing every opportunity with both hands.

“When we have the type of side we’ve got, it’s important for us to reinforce the way we play is more important than anything else. Jason really took the game to South Africa, and Alex and Jonny outstanding partnership to finish it off. Jonny [Bairstow] was brilliant again. Whenever you talk about Jonny, he never lets us down. He’s in fantastic form at the moment. Opportunities for him have been few and far between. But everytime one has fallen at his lap, he’s taken it with both hands,” Morgan said.