South Africa vs England, 2020: 1st T20I – England’s narrowest T20I defeat, Lungi Ngidi defends 7 runs, Jason Roy's 22-ball fifty and more stats

South Africa pulled off a thriller on Wednesday to take 1-0 lead in the 3-match T20I series against England with a 1-run win. Each of South Africa’s top three batters scored 30+ runs as they were cruising at 111/1 in the 11th over before the England bowlers pulled back things by restricting them to 177/8.

Jason Roy’s devastating 38-ball 70 included 10 boundaries as the required rate came below eight. When the home team began to put pressure, Eoin Morgan struck 52 off 34 balls before getting out in the penultimate over. Lungi Ngidi conceded only five runs in the last over when England needed 7 to win.

All the statistical highlights from South Africa’s 1-run victory against England in East London:

England’s narrowest T20I defeat:

1 – The 1-run defeat in this game is the first instance of England losing a T20I by a 1-run margin. Their previous shortest T20I defeat in terms of runs was two runs against Sri Lanka way back in 2006 which was played in Southampton.

1 – This was the 3rd instance of South Africa winning by a 1-run margin in the T20I cricket; the most such wins for any team in the T20I format. South Africa defeated New Zealand by 1 run in the 2009 WT20 game at the Lord’s and also beat West Indies in the 2010 Antigua T20I by the same margin.

England fails to chase 7 runs:

7 – The 7 runs are the fewest England failed to chase down in the 20th over of a T20I match. The previous fewest was 8 runs in the bowling of Jasprit Bumrah in the 2017 Nagpur T20I.

7 – The seven runs which Lungi Ngidi defended are the joint-most runs successfully defended by a South African bowler in the 20th over of a T20I match. Marchant de Lange sealed a 3-run win while defending 7 runs against New Zealand in the 2012 Auckland T20I while Dale Steyn gave away only five runs in the last over of 2014 WT20 game also against New Zealand.

Contrasting records for South Africa and England in South Africa:

4 – England now has lost each of their last four T20I matches on South African soil. The Proteas have defeated England in five out of six home T20I matches. Overall, England has managed to win only two of the ten T20Is they played till date.

8 – South Africa has won each of their last seven matches at home while defending a target in the T20I format. The last instance of South Africa failing to defend a target at home was back in January 2017 against Sri Lanka.

A quick-fire fifty for Jason Roy:

22 – Jason Roy’s 22-ball fifty in this game is the joint 2nd fastest fifty for England in T20I cricket. Eoin Morgan scored the fastest T20I fifty in only 21 balls for England during the recent New Zealand tour. Jos Buttler also had a 22-ball fifty against Australia in the 2018 Birmingham T20I.

A rare T20I fifty in a defeat for Morgan:

7 – Eoin Morgan now has seven fifties in the T20I format while leading England. Only Kane Williamson (9), Faf du Plessis (8) and Virat Kohli (8) have more T20I fifties as captain in Men’s cricket. Aaron Finch and Rohit Sharma also scored 7 T20I fifties while leading the team.

1/7 – This was the first time Morgan’s T20I fifty as captain resulted in a defeat. In fact, this was only the 2nd time an England captain’s fifty resulted in a T20I defeat in Men’s cricket. The other such fifty was Paul Collingwood’s 79 against West Indies in the 2007 Oval T20I.

A big total without a fifty for South Africa; England lost despite two fifties:

2 – Only the 2nd time England failed to win a T20I despite two players scoring 50+ runs in the match. The other such instance was against West Indies during the 2012 WT20 game which they lost by 15 runs.

177/8 – South Africa’s total of 177/8 in this match is their highest T20I total without an individual half-century. Temba Bavuma’s 43 was the highest individual score for the Proteas in this match. They posted 174/8 in the 2017 Taunton T20I also against England where the highest individual score was only 46.