Woeful England beaten by Proteas
Flintoff took two wickets but looked troubled by his ankle yet again
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Sunday, 16, Sep 2007 09:17
England slumped to a 19-run defeat by South Africa in their opening match of the Super Eights at the World Twenty20 in Cape Town.
After winning the toss and putting the hosts into bat at Newlands, England began well with the Proteas on 42-3 at one stage.
But England lost their way at the death with wayward bowling and four dropped catches as South Africa made 154-8.
In reply, England never looked like chasing down their target and were restricted to 135-7 in their 20 overs.
Peter Moores' men made an explosive start with Stuart Broad striking with his first ball to remove JP Duminy (0), playing because Herschelle Gibbs failed a fitness test.
Graeme Smith and AB De Villiers both fell in the space of six balls to leave the Proteas struggling.
Skipper Smith top-edged to Dimitri Mascarenhas at third man for 19 while De Villiers edged a wide delivery to wicket-keeper Matt Prior off the bowling of Andrew Flintoff.
Collingwood then introduced spinners Jeremy Snape and Chris Schofield into the attack.
England's fielding let them down badly with James Anderson and Luke Wright dropping Mark Boucher from Schofield's first over.
Boucher and Justin Kemp put on 49 off 50 balls before South Africa lost three quick wickets to give England the upper hand again.
Albie Morkel came to the crease and rode his luck after being dropped, first by Collingwood and Shah both going for the same ball. Then, Morkel survived when Schofield failed to take a catch on the long-off boundary.
Morkel smashed 43 off just 20 balls including three straight sixes to punish some awful bowling from Schofield in his final over.
He then creamed two boundaries off Broad in the final over before being dismissed in the final ball of the innings with Flintoff taking the catch at cover.
England once again got their tactics horribly wrong in their chase with Luke Wright being dismissed by Shaun Pollock for a duck in the first over.
Kevin Pietersen, who was booed throughout by the home crowd, reached 15 before being controversially run out.
Pietersen ran for a single but looked to be obstructed by Pollock and fell over the line, injuring his elbow, but was undone by Ntini's direct throw.
Skipper Collingwood lasted just one ball after swatting to Kemp at slip off the bowling of Pollock to leave England on 27-3.
Prior (32) and Owais Shah put on 55 but the wicket-keeper hit just one boundary and one six before skying to Vernon Philander from Morkel's slower delivery.
Shah moved to 36 off 31 balls before being clean bowled by Morkel to leave Peter Moore's side on 98-5.
The lower order struggled. Some chaotic footwork from Flintoff (17) in trying to smash every ball for a boundary made England's cause more difficult.
Snape bizarrely came in at number seven instead of Mascarenhas and looked out of his depth. He made a wretched seven off 11 balls before presenting De Villiers with an easy catch at cover.
With England needing 40 off the last two overs, Flintoff was bowled by the impressive Johan van der Wath as England ran out of overs to suffer their second defeat in three days.