Malan and Morgan Lead England to T20 Series Victory

South Africa 146/6 England 148/6 (19.5 overs) England win by 4 wickets

England’s openers failed again before Malan dug deep on a slow pitch to help England to victory.

At one stage he was on 25 from 29 balls as wickets fell around him before he upped gears to finish on 55 from 40 balls to leave skipper Morgan 26 (17) to see England home with Jordan hitting the winning runs.

This game showed that England have that wonderful ability of knowing how to win in almost any situation. The pitch was slow and the boundaries big and at one stage it looked like the required run rate was increasing just too much for England.

Archer 1-18 and Rashid 2-23 bowled beautifully for England with only Sam Curran getting any tap.

Buttler managed 22 from 15 balls before being bowled charging down the pitch and questions remain over where he should be batting.

Jason Roy is in awful nick and struggled to 14 from 19 balls before being caught. His form will be the worry for England whereas the worry surrounding everyone else is where they should bat.

With the series now sealed I feel England should look at the rest of the squad in the next game. Any of the ones who have played well so far and are certainties can be rested. So I would say that’s Archer, Rashid, Malan, Morgan and Bairstow.

Bring in Root, Billings, Moeen Ali, Wood and Topley for those and have a look at them. You are maybe a batsman short then and have a long tail but it means to top order will have to perform.

My team for the last game:

1.      Roy
2.      Buttler
3.      Root
4.      Stokes
5.      Billings
6.      Moeen
7.      S Curran
8.      Jordan
9.      T Curran
10.      Wood
11.      Topley

Stokes shouldn’t be needed to bowl in this one. There are five other seamers and spin option in Moeen and Root.

I know Root technically isn’t in the squad but they can still bring him in to play. Possibly leave Jordan out and play Morgan or Bairstow for a better balance but I feel all the bowlers are still battling it out.

If Buttler doesn’t get a big score then is it time to drop him back down the order? Maybe that won’t be possible if Roy’s form continues and he has to be dropped.

Could Root and Malan play in the same team?

Could Banton come in to the equation if Roy has to be dropped?

Are there too many questions being asked about a team that keeps winning? Quite possibly yes.