Morris had been brought in to replace Morne Morkel at the Wanderers, and the move paid off, but it doesn’t solve South Africa’s overall imbalance.
Advertisement
Rashid momentarily had it his hands before dropping it as he tumbled to the floor.
South Africa continued to impress in the latter stages and it was Morris that hit 62 from 38 balls as they reached the target with 16 balls to spare.
However, Morgan hopes the Yorkshireman can produce another strong showing to help the tourists follow their 2-1 Test series with further glory.
“Hopefully we have enough confidence and momentum on our side to take to Newlands”, De Villiers said.
“The game was there for the taking, and I have no idea why the opportunities created did not bring the wickets”. But again this is a young side and they will be better for playing in a nailbiting game against South Africa.
“We pegged it back with some great bowling but we had chances in the field and that’s disappointing”. “It was unbelievable game of cricket”. You could feel the tension in the air. It was a privilege to play in it.
The likes of opener Jason Roy, skipper Eoin Morgan and number five Jos Butler have all struggled for runs in the last couple of matches and this has ultimately cost them the chance of getting the victory to take them to a series win.
“We can look back and say we should have won the game, but we can still win the series”.
They should have been flying down to the Cape on Saturday morning in a very different mood.
South Africa was then left teetering on the brink on 8 for 210 before Morris came to its rescue. Game over, series in the bag.
Morris was bowled with the penultimate ball of the match to set up a nail-biting finish in Johannesburg, but Tahir hit Rashid for four to seal the victory for South Africa and set up a decider in Cape Town. It is a defeat that will infuriate the coach, Trevor Bayliss, who constantly hammers into his players the importance of fielding.
But Root made 109 and steered England to a total of 262.
Root was saved by a review while unbeaten on 95 and went on to post his eighth ODI century, which moved him level with Graham Gooch in third place on England’s all-time list of centurions. Root batted with the determination of Gooch if not the flair of Pietersen as he marshalled England’s recovery.
Meanwhile Root completed his half-century off 74 deliveries and he received the much needed support at the other end from Chris Woakes (33).
He showed his potential with a fighting 69 in the second Test match against England at Newlands earlier this year, and has made a serious stake for the all-rounder position after only 11 ODIs.
There was a brief delay in the innings when the floodlights stopped working and the break did not help the settled pair as both de Kock and du Plessis fell in successive overs from Stokes (2-46) and Woakes (1-42).
When the next wicket came it was down to batsmen error with Duminy calling through his captain for a single that was not there.
Alex Hales hit his fourth consecutive 50 but holed out the ball afterwards.
But it did sum up an very bad innings form Duminy. Morris went from 40 to 54 with six, four, four off Broad with each boundary increasing belief in the crowd.
“Today was one of the most memorable days of my cricketing career”, Morris said after the one-wicket win.
Advertisement
“They are not just relying on one or two players”.
