Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India], March 11 (ANI): South Africa Legends ended England Legends’ two-match winning streak after beating them by eight wickets in the Road Safety World Series here at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium on Thursday.
Chasing 122 to win, the Jonty Rhodes-led outfit achieved the target in just 13 overs. South Africa now have taken themselves to third position in the points table with eight points behind Sri Lanka Legends (16) and India Legends (12).
The Africans were off to a great start thanks to openers Andrew Puttick and Morne van Wyk who stitched together a good partnership before the former was bowled by James Tredwell for 23. Van Wyk could not get his half-century after he was stumped by wicketkeeper Phil Mustard off left-arm spinner Usman Afzaal for 46.
The stage was set for South Africa’s win and captain Rhodes completed the formalities with two fours and a six in the 13th over to help his team over the line.
Earlier, off-spinner Thandi Tshabalala stole the show with the ball as South Africa bundled England out for 121 in 18.1 overs. Opting to field first after winning the toss, Rhodes’s bowlers had made England batsmen’s life difficult with disciplined bowling.
Tshabalala was the most successful bowler with three for 26 and his victims included Kevin Pietersen, Jim Troughton, and Chris Schofield. Meanwhile, pacers Makhaya Ntini and Zander de Bruyn took two wickets each.
After executing a straight drive in the five boundaries that he hit, a slog against Tshabalala cost Pietersen his wicket. While going for a slog, he mis-hit Tshabalala’s flighted delivery with a bit of turn trapped him LBW for 12-ball 21.
After getting Troughton caught behind, Tshabalala then dismissed left-hander Schofield. Bowling round the wickets, Tshabalala pitched the ball a little outside the off which Schofield chose to leave, but it miraculously came in to break his stumps.
De Bruyn was another bowler who got two crucial wickets of Darren Maddy (25) and Chris Tremlett (23).
Brief scores: England Legends 121 (Darren Maddy 25, Chris Tremlett 23; Thandi Tshabalala 3/26); South Africa Legends 125/2 (Morne van Wyk 46, Alviro Petersen 31*; James Tredwell 1/21). (ANI)