South Africa defeated England by three runs in a thriller to win the second T20 International against England on Friday (June 23) to level the three-match series 1-1.

After being asked to bat first, South Africa rode on JJ Smuts’ 45-run knock and AB de Villiers quickfire 46 to post a challenging 174 for 8 in the allotted 20 overs.

In reply, England were looking destined to chase down the total after 15 overs as they were 133 for 2 with Jason Roy batting on 67. However, the match took an unexpected turn when Roy was given out obstructing the field as England lost five wickets for 46 runs in the last 6.3 overs to fall three runs short.

Brief scores:

South Africa: 174 for 8 in 20 overs (AB de Villiers 46, Tom Curran 3-33)

England: 171 for 6 (Jason Roy 67, Chris Morris 2-18)

Result: South Africa won by 3 runs

Here are some of the statistical highlights of the match:

Jason Roy became the first player to be given out ‘obstructing the field’ in T20 International. He also became only the third English player and eighth player in the International Cricket to be given out in this manner.
The 3-run loss is England’s second smallest losing margin in the shortest format of the game. Their smallest or closest defeat came against Sri Lanka last year when they lost by 2 runs.
AB de Villiers has now scored 7 30-plus scores with a strike rate more than 200 in T20I cricket which is the most by any player. He went past Indian star Yuvraj Singh who has 6 30-plus scores with a strike-rate of over 200.
AB de Villiers’ strike rate of 230 in this match is the 5th highest for a South African player in a T20I innings. (Min: 30 runs scored) The top 4 scores are also in the name of de Villiers.
This was the first international game at Taunton after 18 years. The ground has now become the 10th England venue to host a T20I game. Only India (17) has more venues that have hosted a T20I match.
Taunton last hosted an international game during the 1999 World Cup when India took on Sri Lanka.
Tom Curran’s bowling figures of 3 for 33 made him only the 6th player to take 3 wickets on his T20I debut for England.
South Africa’s total of 174 for 8 is their highest in this format where no individual fifty was recorded. They had two scores of 170 previously which didn’t include a fifty.