Pietersen’s England Thrash South Africa
August 26, 2008 by CLDsport
England 85-0 (14.1 ovs) bt South Africa 83 (23 ovs) by 10 wickets.
It may be too early to say that Kevin Pietersen has single-handedly turned around the fortunes of our England cricket team, but today at Trent Bridge it’s fair to say that we performed well enough to beat anybody.
As Graeme Smith won the toss and elected to bat, it’s likely revenge for England’s ‘against the odds’ win three days ago was at the forefront of his mind.
It was Stuart Broad who struck first, in only the 4th over, when Herschelle Gibbs chose to step down the wicket, only to knock an inside edge to keeper Prior.
This was the start of a fantastic bowling display from Broad. Despite being slower than Flintoff and Anderson, he consistently probed a back-of-the-length line with magnificent efficiency.
Thankfully for Broad, he was superbly supported by England’s fielding. Prior’s catch to eliminate Smith was memorable for a player who was out of the England fray until recently.
Broad’s spell of 4-9 in just 16 deliveries destroyed South Africa’s innings, and they never recovered - eventually being bowled out for just 83, their second lowest score ever and only the second time in a staggering 406 games their score had been less than 100.
England reached their target in just 15.1 overs, and without loss. Prior in particular looked extremely impressive with his 45 from just 36 deliveries.
Broad’s magnifcent bowling was the key to this victory however, and with figures of 5-23 off his 10 overs it was to be a match-winning performance - supported by Flintoff (3-27) and Harmison (2-4).
As was said at the beginning of this article, it is too early to say England’s fortunes have been turned around, BUT it’s difficult to resist the temptation to get excited after seeing a world class performance such as this against what can only be described as a world-class team.
Next stop in the 5 match series, The Brit Oval, Friday, 10:45am. England are now 2-0 up and will be desperate to carry this form through and wrap up this series early.
Pietersen’s 100% record depends on it…….
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